


A Story for the Kids

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Explicit Sexual Content, Family Feels, Kid Fic, M/M, Past Barbara Palvin/Niall Horan, Past Perrie Edwards/Zayn Malik, Past Relationship(s), Single Parents, Sophiam, Tattoo Artist Zayn, Teacher Harry, larry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-09
Updated: 2015-06-09
Packaged: 2018-04-01 02:56:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4003198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>"Da, why do you look at Zayn like he's a princess?"</em>
</p><p>[Niall and his daughter are new to London and Zayn's personal life is a bit messy. Somehow, they make things work.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Story for the Kids

**Author's Note:**

  * For [im_on_craic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/im_on_craic/gifts).



> I really hope you like this! I promise there is a blowjob under a pillow pet somewhere (sadly not during the Lion King, but I hope Beauty and the Beast is okay), I just somehow started to get a lot of feels somewhere along the way.
> 
> This fic took a real long time, and it took a lot of help from a lot of amazing people: Tori, who was kind and amazing enough to beta this whole thing at the last minute, Lex, who helped flesh out some ideas and lent an ear when I just needed to talk things through, and to Nat, who didn't complain when I asked her if it was good every two hundred words (she's used to it by now).
> 
> (Also, I was not able to enlist the help of a brit-picker. It'll probably be glaringly obvious).
> 
> Enjoy! :)

Gabriella is unusually quiet her first day of school. It’s quite a turnabout from the last few weeks they spent in London for the end of summer. The little girl had kept babbling on and on about how it was so cool being in London with all of the big buildings and new people (Mullingar could get a little quaint after a while, especially for an energetic five year old) and how she was going to make tons of new friends on her first ever day of school.

Finally, she turns her head away from the window, chewing on a long strand of auburn hair that Niall swats away. He doesn’t think about how Theo did the exact same thing when Greg let it get too long, and how he’d probably do it too if his hair were able to reach, bloody nervous ticks.

“Stop tha’, ye’ll chew off all your hair.”

Gabby whines in protest, crossing her arms and whipping her head back towards the window.

“Aw, c’mon Gabs. Look, we’re almost to your new school. First day, aren’t you excited?”

Niall gets a tiny nod in response, which is progress. He’ll take it.

“Get to see all your new teachers and friends-“

“You think I’ll make friends?”

The streetlight flashes red just in time to give Niall a chance to flash his daughter an incredulous look.

“‘Course you’re gonna make friends. You’re a Horan and you’re me daughter, makin’ friends’ll be a piece o’ cake.”

Gabby’s face twists into a pout just like her mother’s, so Niall tacks on a “you’ll see” for a bit of a confidence booster.

Whatever other inspiration Niall was going to parrot is cut off by the opening notes of Little Mix, and even though he has to focus on the road, he can hear Gabby’s gasp and see her arms flailing out of his peripheral vision.

“Da, they’re playing my favourite song!” She squeals.

“Just for you, love.” Niall smiles. “S’for good luck!”

So he turns the volume up as high as Gabby’s ears can handle and belts along with her, ignoring the angry honking and annoyed glares from the other morning commuters.

Liam is already there when Niall pulls into the school’s parking lot a few minutes later, _Wings_ still blaring. 

_Figures_ , Niall thinks to himself, wiping his palms against his jeans as Liam frowns at the thumping bass. He doesn’t know how, but somewhere along the way his hands started sweating and sliding along the steering wheel and he refuses to believe he’s actually nervous for Gabby’s first day of school.

Niall waits out the last few seconds of the song for Gabby before killing the engine and opening the backseat door for her.

“We’re here!” 

Gabby takes his hand, skipping and practically tugging him towards Liam as she squeals his name.

“Liam, mate,” he draws Liam into a full body hug, Gabriella squeezing at a leg. 

“Good t’ see you again.” Then he turns his attention to the lump hiding behind his father’s other leg. “And how are you, George? Getting big, fu-“

“It’s Leo,” Liam scolds.

Niall frowns back up at Liam. 

“Last time I checked it was George.”

“William’s going through this phase right now,” Liam leans over to whisper. “Thinks his middle name’s better. Insists we call him Ben. Geor- _Leo’s_ just following his big brother. Sophia’s already with Will in the classroom.”

Niall looks back down at George.

“Hi Leo,” Gabby says, earning a shy little wave and a smile.

“So how’s London been treating you?” Liam asks after Gabriella reintroduces herself to George.

“Really nice. Enjoying it. The work is great. Barbara knows how to pick ‘em.”

Liam nods, looking at bit apprehensive as he lowers his voice in front of Gabriella.

“How is she?”

“Barbara?”

Niall chews at his mouth, glancing back to his daughter. She’s enthralled with George’s Robin action figure.

“She’s good, doing somethin’ or other in Barbados I t’ink. Actually, should get pictures of this little lass and send a few.”

“Good,” Liam smiles. “I’m glad everything worked out for you. Should get going though, lots of people’ve arrived already since it’s the first day and all.”

The classroom is loud. Unbelievably so, with kids running around and screaming as they meet one another for the first time. George hides behind Liam’s leg, and even Gabriella is a bit put off by the amount of noise, sticking close to her father as he holds her hand. 

There’s another girl not taking things very well, crying into her mother’s pregnant belly while the blonde strokes and whispers into her hair with a worried expression on her face. Niall realizes a little belatedly after staring for too long that it’s Perrie Edwards from Little Mix.

“That’s Harry.” Liam motions to a tall man striding through the crowd of students and parents as he works his hair into a tie. He reaches Perrie and her little girl in two long, easy steps. “He’s their teacher; don’t worry, he’s a good lad. Gonna fetch Soph, I’ll meet you after.”

At first, Niall has his doubts as he takes in the tropical Hawaiian button-down shirt and questionable tattoos, but they’re quelled as soon as he coaxes the little girl from Perrie and has her laughing through her tears in less than two seconds.

“Da, what about her?” Gabriella incidentally points to the little girl. “Can I be her friend?” 

“Yeah, she looks like she could use a friend, doesn’t she?”

Gabriella nods.

“She has eyes like you.”

The little girl does, just like Perrie rather, but that’s where the similarities end. Niall can already tell that she’s all her father, just like Gabriella is all her mother.

“Alright, just a mo, Gab. Can I take a picture? Gabs, look at Da.”

Gabriella humours Niall for a few pictures and a selfie before she’s toddling off to Perrie’s daughter. He just wonders when she’ll realize that Perrie is a part of Little Mix, but he decides that’s a battle for another day.

He only really starts panicking when Harry takes to the front of the classroom to grab everyone’s attention and Gabby’s still not back at his side, having deemed her new friend’s attention more important already.

After a few rounds of a deep, booming ‘hello’, the room is quieted down.

“My name’s Harry Styles and I’ll be teaching Year One this year. We’re going to be learning all the fun stuff such as writing numbers, colours, and the alphabet. But most importantly being nice to one another.”

It takes a while after Harry’s speech to catch Gabby’s attention again, and when Niall does, he gets the shortest, least interested goodbye he’s ever received. It’s followed by a short acknowledgement from Aliyah, as he’s introduced, and he leaves the classroom feeling like there’s a hole opened in his chest.

“They do that,” Perrie laughs as they walk out of the room together, having gotten the same treatment from Aliyah after Gabby introduced herself. “They think they’re all independent, but they’ll be runnin’ back into your arms by the end of the day.”

Liam and Sophia are waiting for Niall outside, George finally detached and playing with his action figure on the bench.

“I hope so,” Niall agrees. “Nice meeting you!”

“You too, Niall!” Perrie waves, heading out to her car.

“So how was it?” Sophia asks.

“Awful,” Niall groans after they both raise an eyebrow at his silence. “She didn’t even kiss me goodbye. Is it supposed to feel like I’m losing her forever?”

“Pretty much,” Liam shrugs. “Soph cried the whole time last year with William.”

“Ben!” George cries indignantly before playing on as if he had heard nothing.

“I had to drive us back. Lord knows how she’s gonna do it again next year too.”

“Thank god she’s me only one,” Niall says. Then it dawns on him that that might not be a good thing. “Oh my god. She’s me only kid. And I’m leavin’ her for the whole day.”

Niall rubs his face as Liam chuckles to himself, allowing him this moment for everything to sink in.

It’s a bit tougher on Niall because they’re all they have in London family-wise. Back in Mullingar, he would let either his mum or da take Gabby when he had to work, which was almost all of the time. But he supposes this is different because it means she’s growing up. She’s leaving him behind.

“Well mate, we’d better be off. Gotta get this little lad to nursery. Leo, come on.”

“It was nice seeing you again, Niall,” Sophia waves.

“Yeah, you too. Should get drinks sometime!”

“We’ll see,” Liam calls out after wrangling George from the bench.

Niall cracks a tiny, bittersweet smile at this as he walks off.

Back in university, there wasn’t a care or a need to heavily plan out lad’s night with Liam. As long as it wasn’t around exam time, he was always up for it. That was before they graduated and Liam found a good job and Sophia in London. Niall found Barbara and returned to Mullingar soon after for work, their relationship having only been a casual fling.

Niall slides back into his car; going through the pictures he just took of Gabby, smiling at each one. He sets the selfie of them beaming up at the phone as his wallpaper and texts one of Gabby giving a thumbs up with her school bag hanging from her arm to Barbara, adding a little _first day of school!_ before he sends it off.

Niall’s relationship with her is a bit odd. Actually, the whole situation is really. He hadn’t known Barbara was pregnant until she was papped showing at five months, and even seeing the article in a trash mag at the grocery store was pure chance. At first, he panicked, but after there were rumours starting to fly about abortions and adoptions, he quickly got into contact with her again to ask if it was his.

The rest is almost history. Niall offered to take the baby and that was it. After a few domestics.

They only keep in touch because she’s Gabby’s mother and she wants to be kept updated.

Niall is just passing through Piccadilly Circus when he gets a text back.

_She’s growing up so fast! Give her all the love, I miss her xx_

The last part of the text is new and Niall only has a few seconds to blink at it before the light turns green again. He throws his phone onto the passenger seat, telling himself he’ll deal with this as it comes.

He feels at a loss for what to do after he’s dropped Gabby off at school, having taken the day off from the studio. He doesn’t know what time it is in Barbados, nor does he care enough to check. Instead, he opts for driving around London.

Niall realizes that this is the worst idea he’s ever had, taking the day off for Gabby’s first day of school. As the clock on his dash ticks closer to three, he finds himself getting more and more antsy by the second. He had to stop and call both his parents for words of encouragement, even Greg. The consensus was unanimous. First days are the best and yet the absolute worst.

Niall’s chewed down his nails on his right hand so far down he’s beginning to taste blood.

He even contemplates texting Barbara again about it but before he can decide against it, his phone is buzzing and he almost veers into the lane beside him trying to reach for it.

“‘Lo?” He practically has to yell over the honking of the car he cuts off.

“Yes, is this Niall Horan?”

“Yeah, speaking?”

“I’m Louis Tomlinson…” Niall groans once the caller identifies himself as Gabby’s principal, mind already fantasizing all the things that could have gone wrong. On her first day. It better not have been peanuts. He swears he remembered to pack her Epi Pen. 

“Your daughter seems to have had a bit of an altercation with another student and I’d like for you to come and pick her up as soon as possible. I’ve already been in contact with the other child’s parents and we will be discussing this situation to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Intimidated, Niall agrees quickly and wonders what the hell Gabby did to deserve this her first day.

Perrie’s promise rings true when he walks down the hallway to the principal’s office and spots Gabby sitting on the bench beside the door.

“Da!” She screams, tearing from her seat, and flies into his arms.

With Gabby in hand, Niall can see Aliyah sulking on the other end of the bench.

The principal’s door opens at Gabby’s sudden outburst and a man not much older than Niall pokes his head out.

“Mr Horan, if you’d please leave Gabby outside while we talk.”

The discipline in the principal’s voice is even more intimidating in person when combined with his cold blue eyes. Niall tells Gabby to sit back down on the bench while he walks inside.

Only Harry is in there.

“Aliyah’s mother called to say that her father will be here soon to pick her up,” the principal explains. “Again, I’m Louis Tomlinson, headmaster of this fine establishment. But please, call me Louis.”

“Thanks.” Niall takes a seat. “So. Harry. We didn’t learn about being nice to each other today, huh?” 

Harry blinks at him owlishly before he realizes that Niall’s trying to make light of the situation. Louis is the first to laugh before Harry sputters out a giggle.

Then, the repeated cries of “Daddy!” in the hallway signal that Aliyah’s father has arrived. He walks in sheepishly a few moments later, Aliyah plastered to his chest.

Niall was right. They are the spitting image of each other, from the shapes of their eyes to the man’s ridiculously long eyelashes and their faces. Really, the only thing Aliyah seems to inherit from her mom is the blue of her irises and the chub in her cheeks that’ll disappear with age.

Embarrassingly, the only thing running through Niall’s head as he looks the man up and down is how gorgeous her father is.

He’s speaking something softly into her ear, something Niall doesn’t think is even English, but she grips his leather jacket tighter and wails harder in response.

“I’m so sorry,” he apologizes to everyone. “Sweetheart, please. Daddy needs to speak with them.”

It takes five more minutes and Niall chasing Gabriella from the door twice to reclaim the office for the adults again.

“Sorry again about that. ‘M Zayn, Aliyah’s dad.”

Niall’s the first to stand, on shaky legs as he takes Zayn’s offered hand.

“Niall. Gabby’s father.”

His hand comes away stained with some sort of ink. Zayn notices.

“Shit, Jesus Christ, I was in the middle of a tattoo and I spilt some ink- I was in a rush to get here-”

Niall just wipes the ink he can off on his jeans with a smile.

Zayn stares at him in shock.

“It’s cool, really.”

Too soon, Louis cuts through the moment.

“If everyone’s quite finished, Harry has a class to get back to.”

Zayn coughs awkwardly and takes the chair next to Niall after he greets Harry and Louis properly.

“Harry, please tell these lovely gentlemen what happened.”

“Well, uhm. I don’t exactly know what caused it, neither of the girls would say, but I was helping Adam with-“

“Harry…”

“It’s part of the story Lou,” he whines. Niall’s distracted by the nickname, looking from Harry to Louis curiously. “Anyway, Gabriella screams and I look back and Aliyah’s whacked her. I couldn’t get to them in time before Gabby bit her back.”

There’s a resounding chorus of “bit her?!” from Niall and Zayn as they look at each other in disbelief.

“I know this situation is a bit shocking,” Louis mediates. “But this is their first year of proper schooling and being away from home, so some children will have difficulty adjusting to the changes. I’m sending them both home for the day. I want you two to talk to your daughters separately and then Harry and I will talk to them tomorrow again about their actions and the consequences. Hopefully, if we nip this problem in the bud now they won’t hate each other by the end of term.”

Louis sees them both out of the office, and Niall and Zayn don’t speak as they lead their daughters outside. Aliyah refuses to go anywhere until Zayn scoops her up into his arms.

Niall knows the dryness in his mouth is probably totally inappropriate, but he can’t stop staring at the way Zayn’s leather jacket fits over his shoulders and how his jeans cling to his hips. His paternal instincts are kicking in too, because he finds it wholly endearing that he lets Aliyah cling to him like a koala all the way outside.

When Zayn starts heading towards the bus stop, Niall thinks that that’s the last of the conversation, just a greeting and that’s it.

He feels almost bummed out about it.

“Da, why are you staring?” Gabby tugs at his arm. It’s safe to say Aliyah’s noticed too, she’s had her cool gaze levelled on him the whole walk out of the school.

It’s then when Zayn turns around and calls back out to him.

“Uhm, Niall?”

Niall blinks, a bit dazed as Zayn’s hair flies around his face. Zayn’s a bit helpless for a moment, both his arms supporting Aliyah while he jerks his head to fix it.

“I swear I’m gonna shave it all off,” he grumbles once he’s walked back over, a long strand still caught by the side of his nose. It’s the only reason Niall pushes it away for him. That and his hair is really soft.

Zayn stalls, staring at Niall the same way he did when Niall wiped the ink onto his jeans.

“Sorry, I just-“ Niall swallows the rest of the words down his throat when he realizes that both the girls are watching them with a sort of intensity that is jarring from a five-year-old.

Zayn blinks, and it’s suddenly like he’s back again. 

“Uhm, really sorry about Ali. It’s just- she’s been having a rough time. Her mother and I, we’re not exactly…”

Zayn breaks off awkwardly, looking anywhere but at Niall. 

“I don’t have a mummy,” Gabby decides to announce helpfully, breaking the silence. Niall blushes, unfortunately not as prettily or as discreetly as Zayn can. He can feel the heat spread from his cheeks up to his forehead, down his neck, and across his ears as Zayn looks from Gabriella back to Niall, caught between interest and the awkwardness the statement creates. Aliyah is totally focused on Gabby at the moment. It’s then that Niall sees the teeth marks his daughter left behind.

He hisses empathetically. 

“Yeah, I’ll definitely talk to her about… that,” he points to the purpling welts.

“Same,” Zayn nods. “I’d- I’d better go. Had to cut one appointment short, can’t be late to another.”

“Alright, take care, Zayn.”

Zayn waves in response and Niall watches him walk to the bus stop, Aliyah tucked into his neck until Gabby is tugging at his arm impatiently.

“Am I in trouble, Da?” Gabby asks as soon as he has her buckled into the back of the car.

Niall waits until he’s settled in on the driver’s side.

“I want to know what happened.”

“I asked her if she liked Little Mix.”

“And then she hit you?”

“Mhm.” Gabby nods.

Niall drums his fingers along the steering wheel.

“Are you sure?” He asks again.

Gabby squirms in her car seat.

“She said no and I asked why.”

“Did you say somet’ing she didn’t like?”

“I said that was stupid ‘cause she wouldn’t say why.”

When Niall doesn’t say anything for a while she pipes up again.

“Am I in trouble?”

“I’m not very happy with you right now,” Niall finally says. “I don’t want you saying things like that to other people, okay? And I _definitely_ don’t want you biting. S’not nice.”

“But you lied, Da.” Gabby sniffles quietly. “And you said it’s not nice to lie either.”

Niall’s heart drops and he glances at her disheartened face through the rear-view mirror, instantly going soft.

“You said I’d make friends.”

“Oh sh-“ he cuts himself off before dejection can finish that word for him. “Gabs. Aliyah is a really nice girl. She’s just goin’ t’rough a bit of a tough time right now. School isn’t easy for everyone at first.”

“Is it because she doesn’t have a mummy like me? Is her mummy gon’ta leave her too?”

Thank god the next stoplight’s red, because Niall slams down onto his breaks in shock.

“Gabriella, her mum is fine. You met her this morning. Her mum and da are just not friends right now.” It’s the easiest way to put it when Niall doesn’t know the whole story. “Does… does not having a mum bother you?”

Niall knew they’d have this conversation soon. Gabby is five and already starting to ask seemingly insane questions like ‘why don’t I look more like you’ and ‘why do Uncle Liam and Aunt Sophia kiss’. Plus she’s going to be opened up to other different types of families. Ones like Liam and Sophia’s, ones with two dads, ones with two moms. He just didn’t think it’d happen after the first day of school when he was supposed to be a good parent and scold her about not pushing other kids’ buttons.

Niall isn’t ready for this, he realizes. And he’s pretty certain Barbara isn’t either.

Thankfully though, Gabby just hums and says no. But Niall knows the conversation is far from over when she asks if her mum is pretty.

“Very pretty,” Niall manages.

“Like a Disney princess?”

“Exactly like a Disney princess. Just like you.”

 

**& &**

 

Niall’s torn. Gabriella is looking up at him with her big brown doe eyes and her mother’s pout, skillfully mastered already, and he can feel his resolve slipping.

The day had started off with bright promises of chocolate ice cream and a Disney princess marathon that Niall carefully planned after dinner so that Gabby would fall asleep by half the second flick. 

That was before she bit Zayn’s daughter.

“Da, please,” she drags the word out, cupping her hands like she’s saying a prayer to him. “I finished all my brocc-li.”

Niall sighs. She probably ate it all because she knew that this would happen. He finally gives in, but only a little bit.

“ _One_ movie. An’ yer only gettin’ half a scoop.”

It’s a win in Gabriella’s books, so she squeals off to the living room to pick a DVD.

Niall wonders what Zayn is doing as he fishes the ice cream out of the freezer. About this situation, obviously. Does he have to talk to her alone? Or is Perrie with them and they’re sorting it out together? Niall quickly pushes the thought out of his mind, telling himself that that’s not his business.

It’s then that Niall feels for Aliyah, his parents having gotten divorced- a long time ago now- as well. He can only imagine what it’s like having another sibling on the way. There’s probably a reason why he and Greg aren’t the closest of brothers.

“Da! The movie’s starting!”

He looks back down and the ice cream’s started to melt in the tub.

“Shit- one mo’!”

 _Beauty and the Beast_ is already five minutes in when Niall hands Gabby her half-melted ice cream and sets out to texting Liam about today’s fiasco beside her on the couch. He’s supportive and understanding, even making Niall chuckle a few times as he relates a few of his own stories.

Then he asks if Niall’s going to tell Barbara.

 _Why would I tell her?_ Niall texts back, brows creasing.

_I dont know seems like something she should be updated on._

Niall knows that Liam means well. And Niall knows that Liam knows that there is no chance in hell of them ever trying to become a perfect family like he has. But sometimes Niall feels that Liam doesn’t understand their relationship. Niall sends Barbara pictures of Gabby at pivotal life moments like her first step, her first day swimming, school, and, if he’s feeling generous, when he happens to snap an adorable photo. Barbara doesn’t ask for anything more. Sometimes she’ll text back something along the lines of _she’s so cute!_ if it’s important; something generic and something that distances herself from Gabby’s life. Sometimes she won’t text back at all. Those times, Niall wonders what she’s thinking about, when she sees her daughter smiling up at her from her phone.

Not meaning to give into Liam, Niall opens up his and Barbara’s messages and sees the _miss her xx_ , throwing himself for a loop all over again. This time he really wonders what she’s thinking. If she’s becoming more interested in Gabriella’s life than usual. If she wants to take her back.

Defensiveness rears up in his chest, white hot and irrational as Gabby sings along to “Be Our Guest”, but Niall can’t help it. Not after Barbara confessed she was going to give her up for adoption after she couldn’t go through with the abortion her team had encouraged her towards. Niall doesn’t want to hate her for that, she’s in the spotlight, a model no less, and she got a lot of backlash from the industry for the toll the pregnancy was taking on her figure. It was a miracle her people convinced magazines that Gabby had been adopted privately when her and Niall were photographed together through most of the last trimester of her pregnancy while they sorted everything out.

Not really giving the thought his full attention, Niall types out a quick _school went great, Gabby got into a tiff with another student already_. 

To his surprise, his phone buzzes twenty minutes later as Gabby is desperately trying to stay up for the rest of the movie. It’s not a text. Barbara is calling. Niall scrambles up off the couch and swipes over the screen to accept once he’s safely in the hallway.

“Niall? Hi.”

He hasn’t heard her voice in a while. A good few years in fact. It just wasn’t necessary with the arrangements they had made. It’s soft and airy and heavily Hungarian and worried.

“Hi, what’s up?” Niall says dumbly.

“I just got your text,” Barbara says. Niall can vaguely hear the monotone drone of an intercom in the background and he wonders where she is now, what time it is there. “What happened?”

Niall relays the whole story, leaving out the part where Aliyah’s mother is one-fourth of Little Mix and the part where he and Zayn shared a couple questionable moments. He definitely doesn’t say anything about how he helped move Zayn’s hair out of the way for him. 

“But she’s okay, yes? Her and the other girl?”

“They’re fine. Don’t t’ink they’ll be friends anytime soon though.” It hits him like a punch in the gut when he remembers Gabby’s words in the car ride home.

“Well, I mean… okay.” Barbara sighs. Niall can imagine her tapping her foot as she thinks of what else to say. “And you? How’s the job?”

“Good,” Niall breathes. “Good, it’s- I can’t thank you enough. Really.”

“Good, I’m glad.” There’s an awkward silence until Niall can hear the automated voice in the background again.

“I should- I should go,” Barbara says at length. “I’m headed for Paris soon.”

Ah, Niall thinks. So she’s at the airport. He tries to picture her there, but all that comes are the memories of picking her up, trying to hide her six-month belly from the paparazzi. 

“Bon voyage, then.” He grimaces at his poor accent.

“Give Gabriella my love, okay Niall?”

He agrees and hangs up.

Gabby is fast asleep on the couch by the time he makes it back into the living room.

 

**& &**

 

It’s Perrie who brings Aliyah to school the next day. Niall tries to tell himself he isn’t disappointed, but he definitely is. He was actually hoping- counting on Zayn to be there when he arrived earlier than everyone else.

Gabby is already getting another stern talking-to from Harry and as soon as he sees Aliyah, she’s beckoned to come over as well.

“I’m terribly sorry,” Perrie says after watching the three of them for a few moments. A fight hasn’t broken out yet so Niall counts it as a good thing. “Zayn told me what happened and we both gave her a talking to about it. She just needs a bit more time to adjust to- to everything.”

“It’s fine,” Niall says as Perrie rubs at her belly, checking the time on her phone.

“Shit- oops. Sorry, I’ve got to dash, I’m late for my appointment. Zayn’s coming to pick her up if you need anythin’ else.”

Niall wonders for a second if the baby is Zayn’s, but that’s totally inappropriate coming from him, a stranger, so he keeps his mouth shut, sticking with a “see you around”.

 

**& &**

 

Thankfully, Niall doesn’t get any calls from the school in the week that follows, and Gabby seems to adjust well to being away from home most of the day; better than Niall’s adjusting at any rate.

“It’s like she doesn’t even need me anymore,” he complains at the half empty beer bottle.

Liam has the nerve to chuckle. And if he thinks hiding it with one last swallow of beer will work, Niall thinks he’s wrong.

“It’s always like that. Wait until she starts saying ‘nothing’ when you ask her what she did in school. William’s driving Soph up the walls.”

Niall snorts.

“This was a bad idea, you were supposed t’ cheer me up.” 

“Have you even thought about the teenage years?” Liam quips.

“Oh god, just shuddup, will you?” Niall groans. He knocks back the last half of his drink in a few quick gulps and declines another from the bartender, knowing he has to pick Gabriella up from Liam and Sophia’s after. “God, one beer. M’ so old, Liam. I used to knock back five before I started t’ feel it-“

“If you weren’t using it to chase shooters- which you always were,” Liam corrects with a grin.

“Don’t be a-“

“Liam!”

Niall barely registers the call until a tall lanky figure that looks a lot like Gabby’s teacher drapes himself around his friend.

“Harry! Didn’t expect t’see you, where’s Lou?”

“Trying to find a spot to park.” Harry grins. “Mr. Horan, hello!”

“It’s just Niall.”

Niall takes his extended hand, and he’s not bothered when Harry slides into the booth next to Liam, just curious as he shoots Liam a look. 

“How’s William?” Harry asks once he’s flagged down a waitress for a couple of drinks.

“Great! We’re finally out of that middle name thing. Now it’s running around the house with pants on their heads.”

Louis Tomlinson walks up to the booth and slides in next to Niall just in time to spit back a “terrible, learn to parent your children, Leemo” and Niall finally realizes that the three of them are tighter than he would’ve thought. Which makes sense, he hasn’t been a constant fixture in Liam’s life for a good few years now.

Liam laughs and Louis claps a hand on Niall’s shoulder.

“Is Gabriella behaving herself now, then?”

“Well I haven’t been called back in, so I’m assuming she is.” Niall laughs.

“She’s very social, everyone loves her,” Harry says.

Pride swells in Niall’s chest because yeah, that’s his little girl and he knew she would be great. Of course she would, she’s his daughter.

He ends up fitting seamlessly into this little group as well, recounts his stories of growing up in a small town in the middle of Ireland and Harry and Louis, even Liam, although he’s heard these enough to tell them by heart himself, laugh with him.

In return he learns that Harry and Louis are finally cleared for adoption and that they’ll be receiving files of children they’re most compatible with soon.

“So cheers to that!” Louis raises his glass, letting everyone’s chink before leaning over the table and planting a messy kiss on Harry’s lips.

They all part ways a couple hours later with promises of making Lad’s Night a Thing and Niall picks a sleepy Gabriella up from Sophia before she starts chewing Liam out for not telling her he’d be a little later.

And yeah, Niall thinks with a few more months in London with the right people, he and Gabby will do just fine.

 

&&

 

In an attempt to get to know the city better and do a bit of father-daughter bonding, Niall takes Gabby out on the weekend to a park he had been eyeing that was on the way to the recording studio.

It’s pretty decent out, the clouds have broken apart and the sun’s strong enough that Gabby hasn’t demanded the hoodie that Niall brought along just in case yet. She’s happily letting him chase her around the play structure, giggling and squealing and accusing him of cheating when he tags her and yells “you’re it!”

But then, after a half hour when Niall’s helping her climb across the monkey bars she gasps and purposefully lets go, almost giving Niall a heart attack when she lands on her bum. She’s up and running before he can pull her up and brush the sand from her jeans.

“Gabby! Gabriella! What did I say about running too far?” He calls out, running after her.

She’s not listening though, she’s got her arms wrapped around another girl with long dark hair tied up in a braid as they jump up and down together excitedly.

Niall doesn’t connect the dots immediately, but when he sees the other girl’s father, everything falls into place and his heart starts slamming against his chest again.

“Gabs, what did I say about runnin’ off wit’out me?”

Gabby giggles and offers an insincere sorry before she takes Aliyah’s hand and guides her to the play structure.

“I’m really sorry about that,” Zayn says once the girls are safely crawling up the ropes.

“It’s fine t’be honest,” Niall admits. “Just wasn’t sure of who or what she was runnin’ to at first.

Niall offers his hand and Zayn takes it.

“Good t’see you again, mate.”

Zayn smiles, pushing his beanie farther up his head.

“You too.”

It’s weird, Niall thinks. That being with Zayn is calming when it doesn’t feel like they’re about to get in trouble. No more conversation is offered as they sit on the bench to watch their daughters play with each other, and instead of awkward it’s just nice. 

Niall wonders if Zayn can feel a certain thrum under his own skin when he looks back over and finds him playing absentmindedly with the sleeves on his sweater, watching Aliyah.

The tiff the girls had gotten into before seems to have no effect on them now because they’re acting like they’ve been best friends all this time.

“I didn’t know they made up,” Niall admits. “Gabby talked about having a friend named Ali, but I didn’t realize. There’s like an Alison and two other Alices in the class.”

“Yeah, we got Ali to agree that she’d apologize,” Zayn says. “Things haven’t been… so great for her; just found out the baby’s a boy and of course she wanted a sister, right? So Gabriella’s good for her right now, didn’t want her to muck that up before it got a chance, y’know?”

“Ah, yeah.” Niall nods, trying to stop himself from drumming his fingers on his knee. He doesn’t know their exact situation, Aliyah’s family, but it seems far from easy right now. “Gabby could use a few friends too. She misses me family.”

“You’re actually from Ireland?”

Niall laughs without meaning to and Zayn rolls his eyes, chuckling, but it’s clear he’s upset by how stupid that comment sounded.

“Wait, that’s not- I meant recently.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Niall grins. “I am. Just this summer, got a good job in a recording studio. It’s what’s probably for the best, more opportunities for her later on.”

Zayn nods, offering a small smile before Niall looks back over and sees Gabby climbing one of the chains on the swing set while Aliyah holds the swing steady for her.

“Oh my god,” he mutters, getting up. Zayn’s going to think he’s the worst father ever.

“Da, I wanna swing!” She calls out.

“Get down from there and I’ll push you!”

Gabby drops down, thankfully landing on her feet this time before she sits down.

“Want me to push you too, Ali?” Niall asks her as she sits in the other one.

“I want daddy,” she shakes her head.

Niall hadn’t even known Zayn got up to follow him until he starts pushing Aliyah. However, she doesn’t break their gaze and Niall feels strangely like he’s being sized up again by a five-year-old. 

They push their daughters for a few more minutes before they dart off to the play structure again, leaving Niall and Zayn to take their places.

“Does Gabby like ice cream?”

Niall huffs out a laugh.

“She’s a five-year-old, what five-year-old doesn’t?”

Zayn grins.

“Ali and I were gonna get some on our way back, maybe you’d want to come with?”

“Sure! You know of a good shop? Could use some good recommendations.”

“A few,” Zayn agrees.

Gabby’s excited to be spoiling her dinner, and spends the whole ten minute walk mouthing off all the flavours she’s ever tried while Aliyah listens from up on Zayn’s shoulders.

“But my favourite is chocolate, right Da?”

“Really?” Niall furrows his eyebrows with mock confusion. “Last time I checked it was vanilla.”

Gabby giggles and rolls her eyes in exasperation.

“You do this all the time! Last time you thought it was strawberry!”

At least Zayn seems to think their banter is cute. Ali keeps quiet most of the way, only answering questions when Gabby talks to her. Niall chalks it up to the busy couple hours they spent running around before.

Zayn opens the door up to a little parlour on a corner lot. The wooden _Sweets and Eats_ sign thuds against the glass of the door as the bell chimes for their arrival.

“Watch your head babe,” he tells Aliyah and Niall watches as she ducks, just barely missing the top of the doorframe. Gabby runs ahead when Niall holds the door open for her and thankfully, the young girl working the counter laughs and coos at her when she faceplants against the display case, wide-eyed and amazed with the selection.

“Can I get the double chocolate swirl with chocolate sprinkles, Da?”

Niall internally cringes, thinking of all the bargaining he’s going to have to do after so she’ll eat her vegetables for dinner- if she’ll even want dinner after this.

“What about just chocolate with chocolate sprinkles?” He tries. 

“No thanks.” Gabby shakes her head innocently and that’s that.

She also orders her ice cream with a sugar cone despite Niall’s best protests, and he’s sure she’s lying through her teeth when she agrees to eating all of her brussel sprouts for dinner.

Niall slides back into the booth Zayn picked out opposite Aliyah, Gabby next to him until Aliyah pokes her father.

“Daddy, I want to sit with Gabby.”

“Yeah?” Zayn looks from Gabriella to Niall, and even though Niall knows it’s a terrible idea since Gabby and ice cream in cones are never a good combination, he shrugs.

“Sure. Gabs, you want to switch?”

“Yes please.”

Once Zayn shuffles out from beside Aliyah, Gabby happily plunks down in his place, double chocolate ice cream already drooling down the cone. Niall absolutely does not feel like a little school girl, smiling down into his cup of mint chocolate chip when he sees that Zayn has the same.

“So what did you girls do in school this week?” Zayn asks.

Niall realizes that the weekend must be the only free time he gets with Aliyah when he remembers Perrie had said something about him picking her up on a Friday afternoon. Suddenly, he feels a bit like a jerk not figuring this out sooner, for cutting into their time together.

Aliyah finally perks up, nearly dropping her spoon into her cup of rocky road as she starts babbling almost incoherently about how they’re learning how to add and subtract in maths, and Harry had even let her draw a picture for him on Thursday, which he said was a masterpiece. Now it’s hanging proudly on the bulletin board under the homework chart. Gabby is exactly the opposite, claiming she likes nap and snack time the best. But when Zayn prods a bit more, she admits to liking story time too. 

By now, the ice cream has stained her fingers and is starting to smear and Niall’s starting to regret being seated diagonally from her, even if Zayn has scooted closer as the minutes have ticked by.

Thankfully, Niall can somewhat lean over the table and swipe the napkin across Gabby’s unimpressed face while Aliyah giggles. Unfortunately, she knows how to push his buttons when she feels he’s pushing hers, so she pokes him right between the eyebrows with a sticky finger and whispers matter-of-factly “you’ve got a pimple there.”

And yeah, Niall knows. So far he’s the only twenty-seven year old he knows who still gets them and this one’s red as all hell and he hasn’t had time to pop it. A bit embarrassed, he hopes Zayn hasn’t overheard.

“Don’t start, Gabriella,” he warns. And thankfully she doesn’t, shrinking back as he finishes cleaning up her face the best he can. He’ll have to wash the dried bits when they get home.

He only realizes his shirt got caught in his own ice cream when he pulls away and he rolls his eyes. It’s not exactly his idea of a great first impression, but Niall forces himself to think of the situation at hand: they’re just fathers watching over their daughters hang out. Single fathers. Niall swallows and jabs his spoon into his half melted ice cream, little giggles bringing him out of his thoughts.

“What?” He asks, a bit miffed once he realizes they’re laughing at him. He turns to Zayn, accidentally bumping their knees before he realizes how close they’ve gotten.

“You’ve got something on your face, mate.” Zayn grins.

Niall doesn’t even have time to blink before Zayn is reaching out, rubbing his thumb roughly against Niall’s forehead where Gabby poked him.

Zayn stops immediately once Niall’s tensed, pads of his fingers hovering precariously close to Niall’s face.

“It’s fine,” Niall manages before Zayn voices the regret on his face.

So Zayn nods wordlessly and scrubs with his thumb one more time before he pulls away.

“All gone,” he says. The smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes this time, and all Niall can do is bump their knees together again with his heart beating in his throat and both of their daughters’ eyes watching them carefully again.

When Niall and Gabby get back home for the evening, Niall finds out he was right. Gabby refuses her brussel sprouts and he knows he’s going to have a long night of bargaining and dodging questions like “were you gonna kiss Aliyah’s da today?” ahead of him.

 

**& &**

 

Once Gabby and Aliyah realize that they can see each other outside of school, it’s hard to keep them away from each other. Not that Niall minds, they’ve managed to limit playdates to the weekends, which means seeing more of Zayn. That’s always a plus. Zayn not seeming to mind at all is an even bigger plus.

September rolls easily into October and Niall finds himself and Gabby inside a small hole-in-the-wall Italian joint with Zayn waving at him from a table in the back.

Niall tries to suppress the grin as he ushers Gabby towards the back. It’s sweet how Zayn’s taken their weekends to show Niall around to all the less well-known eateries. 

“Find it alright?”

“Well we’re here,” Niall laughs, sliding into the seat next to Zayn. “Reckon I might’ve taken a bit of a detour though.”

When Zayn’s knee brushes against his, Niall lets out a breath he hadn’t even known he’d been holding.

“You weren’t waiting long, right?”

Zayn shakes his head. 

“It’s fine, Niall. Really.”

“Daddy, can I ask?” Aliyah pipes up.

“Not now, babe. After dinner.”

When both Niall and Gabby look from Zayn to Aliyah feeling a little out of the loop, Zayn pulls out his phone and types the word _sleepover_ under the table for Niall. No doubt it’s what Aliyah whispers to Gabby to elicit an excited shriek.

Thankfully, the dinner goes smoothly and Gabby almost finishes her whole plate. It’s better than the last time, when she had a full meltdown because she didn’t want to eat her peas. Niall honest-to-god thought Zayn wouldn’t invite them out again, but Zayn had just texted back a simple _don’t worry about it babe :) Aliyah’s done worse x_ when Niall apologized later on for her behaviour.

Then, Zayn’s knee knocks against Niall’s again before he leans in.

“What are you smiling about?”

“Nothin’, babe.” Niall’s eyes widen as he realizes what he’s just said. But he can’t take it back now, say what- it was a Freudian slip? “Sorry, sorry. I wasn’t-“

But Zayn’s smiling down at his plate when Niall looks over, so he lets it rest.

“Can I say it now, Daddy?” Aliyah asks again.

Zayn looks up to make sure her plate is cleared before giving her the okay.

“Uhm, Mr. Horan can Gabby and I have a sleepover?”

Niall realizes that this is the first time Aliyah’s ever spoken to him directly, which explains the nervous frown on her face. But Gabby has no problem bouncing up and down in her seat chanting “please!”

He finds himself looking at Zayn.

“Is it okay?”

Zayn nods discreetly, knowing the girls are watching them.

“I already told Ali I was fine with it,” he mumbles. “I can have them at mine, no problem if you’re busy or-“

“No, it’s fine. We can do that, next Saturday?”

Niall almost doesn’t catch Zayn’s agreement, getting caught up in the sparkle in his eyes the dim lighting creates. He doesn’t really know how he’s gotten this lucky, even though he’s not sure what he’s got to feel lucky about.

“How about next Saturday, girls?”

Later that night, after Gabby’s fast asleep and the plans have been firmed up, Niall shoots of a text to Barbara, thinking she’d want to be let in on this kind of thing- it seems girly enough.

_Gabby’s got her first sleepover next weekend._

_Yay! :) Be sure to remember everything like tooth brushes and clean pants. Take pics for me too._

Niall frowns, a bit put off by the suggestions. He knows what Gabby will need, and Barbara’s chosen to stay out of the picture. But he pushes that aside, decides to save that battle for another day.

 

**& &**

 

Niall’s listening to the girl in the recording booth with wild pink hair and a penchant for writing songs at just twenty when his phone buzzes. She’s insanely good at it too, and maybe that’s why Niall loves her so much. He’s so into the music he doesn’t realize it buzzes once more, twice, until he looks and realizes that no one’s texting him, Zayn’s calling him.

He rips the headphones from his head, catching Ashley’s attention. He points a finger up, asking for a moment as he scrambles for his phone.

“Hello?”

“Niall, hey. I’m jus’ between appointments, um, the girls’ sleepover this weekend, right?”

“Y’mean tomorrow?” Niall chuckles.

“Yeah, that.” There’s a short pause. “I was wondering, maybe when you dropped Gabriella off you could stay for dinner? If you’ve got nothing else to do, I s’ppose.”

Niall’s heart possibly skips a beat, teeth starting to pull at an offered thumb as he tries to hide his grin from no one in particular.

“I reckon I could, yeah. I could stay.”

Zayn exhales a soft laugh.

“Right, yeah. Sick, mate. Uhm, you’re probably at work right now-“

“I am, actually,” Niall bites at the smile on his lips.

“Shit, sorry. Six tomorrow, right? I hope Gabriella likes curry, cause that’s about all I can make.”

Niall tips his head back in a hearty laugh, and when he looks back, Ashley’s watching him with a smile, like she knows exactly what’s going on here. Niall doesn’t really know what it is, but she sees it.

“She’ll love it,” Niall promises. They hang up, and before Ashley can coo at him about whatever she’s thinking, Niall tells her to run through the chorus one more time.

 

**& &**

 

It worries Niall, how Gabby wrinkles her nose at the strong scent of curried something wafting into the hallway when they arrive at Zayn’s apartment door

“Da, it smells,” she complains.

Niall’s heart drops, and there’s nothing he can do about it now as he hears Zayn’s muffled voice call out a “just come in!” after he’s knocked on the door.

“Good, right?” He asks, hand gripping the doorknob.

“Ew.”

This was a bad idea, Niall suddenly thinks. He should’ve at least gotten some takeout and introduced Gabby to curry yesterday to see if she agreed with it or not; while there was still time to ask Zayn if he could cook something else, even back out or hold the sleepover at his own apartment.

But there’s excited laughter coming closer to the door and it flies open, revealing Aliyah. Her excitement is contagious and Gabby jumps up and down and into her friend’s arms, both girls screaming at the top of their lungs. Niall flushes red in embarrassment, pushing the bundle of girls inside and shutting the door behind him before someone complains about the noise.

There’s no chance for Niall to grab Gabby back when they squeal and run back to what he presumes is Ali’s room, so Niall settles for hoping she’s learned from last time and doesn’t mention not liking the smell.

“You can jus’ throw your bag in the hall, take your shoes off if y’want, too.”

Zayn’s standing there, in the entrance to the kitchen with all his hair pulled into a bun, the shorter strands falling around to frame his face and he’s only in a tank top and trackies. Niall’s heart drops and his face flushes with a whole different type of embarrassment, so he toes off his shoes and places them neatly by Gabby’s overnight bag while he considers if he should go for a handshake or a hug. 

“Hey mate,” Zayn says softly once Niall’s managed to pluck up the courage to follow him back into the kitchen where he’s stirring up a huge pot.

It ends up being an awkward handshake with a one armed hug and Niall can’t tell who grips whose hand harder or who clings longer.

“Smells great,” Niall compliments once he clears his throat. His hands nervously fidget towards his back pockets and Zayn just offers a smile that doesn’t exactly reach his eyes, but his voice is warm when he says “I hope you don’t mind, it’s goat.”

With Gabby’s comment in the back of his mind, Niall swallows around nothing and says “me an’ Gabs will eat anything, trust me.”

Zayn’s smile gets a pinch wider and Niall counts it as a win.

“So, how’d your day at the shop go?” He asks, settling for the small talk before getting the girls ready for dinner.

Zayn hums, stirring at a pot of white rice.

“Was nice. Got to work on a big back piece I’ve been wanting to finish; Japanese dragon. Poor kid was only eighteen when we started and thought tattoos were a piece of cake. Been almost two years, almost forgot I did it.”

Niall laughs and swears he could never get a tattoo.

“It’d hurt too much. Needles freak me out.”

“If it makes you feel any better, it feels nothing like a needle at the doctor’s.” 

When Niall shakes his head, laughing off Zayn’s attempts at cajoling him into one, Zayn finally gives up with a huge grin, one that crinkles his nose and his eyes, and he asks about Niall’s day.

It was a bit rough, and he tells Zayn so. Liam and Sophia were back in Wolverhampton to see his parents, so he had to take Gabby into the studio with him to work with Ashley on some last minute ideas she wanted to throw around. Thankfully, Ashley thought she was the cutest thing and there were no broken guitar strings even though Paul frowned his whole way through the session.

“Gabby’s decided she wants to learn guitar,” he finally says. “Can imagine how that’s going t’go.”

“You play?” Zayn raises an eyebrow, turning the burner off.

“Wanted to be a rock star before uni,” Niall chuckles. “Funny how things work out. Workin’ with this girl now, super talented and bright, she can have the whole world if it’ll let her.”

Zayn hums and before they know it, he’s directing Niall to where he keeps the plates and starts ladling rice and curry onto them.

“Can you get the girls? I usually get Aliyah to set the table.”

For a moment Niall wants to decline, say he can set the table himself so he can have a few more uninterrupted moments with Zayn. But their daughters are still at that stage where they need to start learning responsibility through the little things, so he nods and follows where Aliyah dragged Gabby from the hallway, relying on the sound of their half-muffled giggles to show him to Aliyah’s room.

He knocks softly twice, exciting surprised yelps from both of the girls before opening the door and peeking in.

“Dinner’s just about ready, wanna set the table?” Niall surveys the situation, paper and crayons strewn across the floor.

“Look what I drew!” Aliyah announces, shoving her haphazard drawing into Niall’s free hand. 

“Oh wow, look at that!” He beams, even though he’s not sure of what to make of it. He’s pretty sure it could be a doctor and a patient lying on a table, or a murderer and a victim, he’s not sure what the figure standing up is supposed to be holding.

“It’s my daddy! He’s drawing on someone!”

And _ah_ , that makes a lot more sense. The squiggles on the sausage arms are supposed to be tattoos.

“Da, look at mine too!” Gabby butts in.

“And what did you draw, Gabs?”

Niall’s pretty sure the crowns are indications of princesses, and Gabby confirms: it’s of him, her, and her mom, who Gabby insists is beautiful to Aliyah even though she’s never met her. By the time Niall coaxes the girls into thinking they’re artists and that artists should set the table for dinner, Zayn’s appeared in the hallway, a fond smile lazing on his lips as he watches Niall usher them out of Aliyah’s room.

“What does everyone want to drink?” Zayn asks once Gabby and Aliyah sort out who sets the forks and who sets the knives (being very careful, they’re warned). Niall notices the uncorked bottle of wine, and something flutters in his stomach unexpectedly.

“I’ll have what Da’s having,” Gabby offers.

Zayn scratches at the back of his neck as he looks sheepishly from the bottle of wine to Niall.

“I think Da’s having grape juice, love,” Niall says.

“Which you girls can have as well,” Zayn opens the fridge, producing a jug of actual grape juice.

“Nice save,” Niall says quietly behind Zayn as the girls finish setting the table with their plates.

Zayn chuckles and there’s this tug in Niall’s chest, this want that’s focused on skidding his fingertips over the hip where Zayn’s top and trackies are barely meeting, push them out of the way so he can feel the warmth of his skin, see the contrast in shades and then wrap around Zayn’s small frame and pull him close.

Part of him wants to ask about the deal with the wine, but he lets Zayn pour it in peace as he herds the girls to the table. Niall thinks it could come from a number of different reasons; holidays, dinner parties, people leaving their dishes and wines and foodstuffs so the host can deal with leftovers the next few days.

When they sit, Gabby’s wrinkling her nose at her goat curry and anxiety sparks in Niall’s chest. The last thing he needs is another small disagreement between her and Aliyah, them leaving early before someone can hit, the anticipation of something going wrong at the table hangs over Niall’s head like an ominous threat. It tinges his cheeks with embarrassment over something that can be easily avoided.

“Dig in,” Zayn says, handing out the drinks.

Gabby looks at Niall, fork hovering over the small heap of rice and goat unsure. Niall dives into his portion, hoping she gets the idea to just try. A few moments go by, of Gabby just watching Niall chew nervously- it’s delicious, the curry, even if it is a bit spicy- before she finally scoops a forkful into her mouth.

“Good?” Zayn sounds hopeful as he sips his wine, looks from the girls to Niall.

Niall can feel his nose starting to run and if he doesn’t swallow this bite carefully, he’ll choke on the heat and his eyes will start watering.

“It’s great,” he still swears. “Gabs?”

At least his daughter doesn’t look like how he feels, like his face is going to explode, and she nods eagerly and starts shovelling her curry into her mouth in a way that makes Aliyah giggle and whisper eagerly to her dad, “I think she really likes it.”

“Reckon I put a bit too much spice in it, huh?” 

Niall ends up drinking half his glass of wine in three gulps, wincing at the bitterness. At least it calms the fire in his throat.

“It’s fine,” Niall lies, knowing his whole face is probably beet red, brow shiny with sweat. “’S fantastic.”

Zayn just laughs, says Niall doesn’t have to eat it and that he has leftover pasta in the fridge, but Niall soldiers on, polishing off his whole plate. He’s slightly afraid this will give him terrible heartburn and acid reflux for the rest of his life, but the endeared smile Zayn’s giving him while Aliyah and Gabby chatter on about _My Little Pony_ is making him think he can go for seconds.

And since the girls are impatient to get back to their sleepover activities, whatever activities those are, Niall muses to himself, Zayn lets them off the hook from cleanup duty. They squee their way into the living room where Aliyah announces she’s going to introduce Gabby to _Teen Titans_ (the good one, Zayn whispers to Niall. Not the new one).

Niall marvels at how two girls with totally different tastes can get on so well (excluding the rocky start) before helping Zayn clear the table.

He should probably be going. Niall’s done his time, dropped Gabby and her stuff off, stayed for dinner since he was asked; he should really be going. But Zayn doesn’t say anything as he fits himself beside him at the sink and offers to dry the plates, just hands them over and grins away from Niall’s gaze when their hands slip together over the cutlery. Niall selfishly thinks that he doesn’t want to leave.

By the time the dishes are done and they’ve polished off what was poured from the wine bottle, the girls are completely engrossed in the episode.

“There’s still dessert,” Zayn finally says after watching over them for a few moments. “If you want. Ali wanted to make cupcakes for her and Gabby.”

“You sure?” Niall asks. “I don’t want to-“

“Mate, it’s fine.” Zayn grins, gripping Niall’s shoulder before turning back into the kitchen. It’s only then that Niall entertains the idea that maybe Zayn doesn’t want him to leave just yet either.

Niall doesn’t know why he takes it, the second glass of wine that Zayn offers with the cupcakes as they sit with the girls in the living room when they ask. Or maybe he does, just doesn’t want to admit it to himself. He’d take a third glass, no questions asked.

“Can I show you Belle?” Gabby asks timidly once the credits start rolling. Niall had noticed her sneak the DVD into her overnight bag, and both girls hop off the bed gather more necessities for the movie.

By now, Niall’s also noticed that the bottle of wine has migrated from the fridge to the couch by Zayn. And as promised, Niall doesn’t turn down the offer for another refill.

“Try’na get me drunk, mate?”

Zayn laughs, pours a bit more into his own glass looking like he wants to say something, but the girls come stomping back into the room, Gabby with her copy of _Beauty and the Beast_ that Zayn helps boot up and Aliyah armed with what looks like a huge rainbow unicorn pillow.

“Look!” She says, thrusting the plush at him. Niall moves out of the way quickly, avoiding a permanent wine stain on the carpet and a unicorn horn in the eye. “Her name’s Rainbow! Mummy got it for me! I have a Perry Platypus one too.”

“Love the name,” Niall agrees. “She your favourite?”

Aliyah nods, and both of the girls cuddle up on it in between their fathers to watch the movie.

“So what’s your favourite princess?” Gabby asks as Gaston’s introduced. “Mine’s Belle!”

“Raven,” Aliyah answers simply, focused on the animation.

“But she’s not a princess,” Gabby retorts and Niall’s eyes widen, looking to Zayn who looks like he’s thinking the exact same thing. “She’s cool though. And brave. Belle’s smart.”

Niall swears he hears Zayn breathe a sigh of relief with him, and they all fall into a peaceful silence and watch the movie.

Apparently, Aliyah’s no better than Gabby and even with the chocolate cupcakes and the sugar high they both end up passing out before Belle and Adam start seeing each other eye to eye. The wine’s almost done and it takes a bit of concentration not to disturb the girls’ sleep as they carry them to Aliyah’s room. As soon as they’re tucked away safely into her bed, Niall can’t quite keep himself from laughing at the situation.

“You fucker, I’m drunk,” he wheezes. 

Zayn giggles, gropes his shoulders and pulls Niall back into the living room where he says “what’s four glasses, thought y’were Irish?”

They collapse back onto the couch in a mess of laughing limbs, swearing they’ll turn off the movie and watch something more manly like _The Godfather_ or something.

“Can’t drive home like this, now can I?” Niall muses.

Zayn shakes his head.

“Reckon y’should stay,” he says softly. “Didn’t plan on it, but you definitely should.”

His voice is slow and warm, and as he drags his hand down Niall’s back, Niall isn’t sure if he’s going to make it through the night without kissing him. When Niall pulls his head from the crook of Zayn’s shoulder and sees the hair fanned out over his eyes, he gently brushes it away, fingers tangling in the silky dark strands. Zayn’s eyes are soft and flickering and a bit hazy from the wine and when he licks his lips, Niall’s eyes follow the movement, watching as they’re left glistening and pink. He isn’t so sure he _wants_ to make it through the night without kissing him.

It’s not the best position they could be in, hanging precariously diagonal on the couch, but Niall kisses him anyway. Zayn’s lips are plush and soft; softer than the sigh he exhales into Niall’s mouth, softer than Niall’s ever thought it being and it’s almost sobering, the fact that he’s finally kissing him.

Zayn shifts, pulling Niall back down against him to lay across the couch properly, lips never leaving his. Niall takes that as a good sign, that he wants this too, and dips his tongue into the heat of Zayn’s mouth as he runs his fingers along the warm skin under his shirt. There’s a soft unicorn horn poking at the bend of his knee, but Niall considers that things could be worse. Like not kissing Zayn with a unicorn horn still poking him.

They kiss like that for a while, Niall’s hands in Zayn’s hair and on his hip, Zayn’s settling in the dip of Niall’s shoulders and his back before Niall rucks Zayn’s shirt up over his chest and Zayn groans.

“The girls.” 

It’s barely a stutter on his tongue as his head rolls back to hit the arm of the couch, Niall’s blunt nails dragging down his sides, and Niall knows. So he settles for settling better in between Zayn’s parted legs and tentatively rolls his hips, earning a soft sound that doesn’t sound like a no at all.

Niall’s sure the last time he’s gotten off with someone was months ago. At least ten, not that he’s counting. But his jeans are starting to strain fast and Zayn’s not complaining as he starts to grind and rut harder and faster against him. Niall’s almost certain he’s going to get off like this, like he’s thirteen again and humping the first girl that will let him until he’s coming in his pants before he gets a better idea.

“‘M gonna blow you, okay?”

Zayn’s eyes blow wide, breath hiccuping in his throat and Niall slides himself back down the couch, undoing his jeans for some release. Zayn’s sweats pool around his ankles easily, flushed, half-hard dick slapping against the inside of his thigh while Niall plants a kiss on and nips at the other. For comfort, the sweats are taken off, thrown across the opposite arm of the couch. Niall gulps, just about to give a tentative lick along the underside of Zayn’s cock when Zayn asks for the unicorn plush.

Niall’s eyebrows furrow in confusion. 

“What, the pillow pet?”

Zayn nods, flushed and sheepish.

“Ali gets up sometimes for the bathroom, it’s right along the hall.”

Niall grins, grabbing the unicorn behind him by the horn and throws it over the both of them, surprisingly big enough to cover everything except their legs.

“You know, there’s gonna be a special place in hell reserved for us,” he hums under the plush, earning a quiet laugh from Zayn when he kisses him again.

“Thought you were gonna blow me,” Zayn says after a while. His lips are flushed, puffy and overused like Niall’s feel. Niall thinks he could spend all night kissing Zayn if he’d let him.

He’s softened when Niall finally gets a hand around the base, giving Zayn a few good pumps before he’s filling Niall’s hand up again. He kisses the tip of Zayn’s cock, giving tentative little licks around the slit until it’s throbbing in his hand and Zayn’s fingers are twitching at the back of Niall’s neck. He sends up one little prayer asking for once, for the love of God, that his gag reflex won’t ruin anything, and finally wraps his lips around Zayn’s cock.

He takes his time, getting used to the feeling again as it sits swollen and heavy against his tongue. It’s a slow start, hollowing his cheeks and bobbing his head experimentally without taking too much of Zayn into his mouth. Zayn’s cock gets fatter and fatter, until Niall can feel the pulse pounding against his tongue.

When Niall slips his mouth away with a pop, Zayn nearly whimpers, a broken sound that caves his chest, and Niall has to shush him.

“You okay with me going slow?”

“Fuck, yes.” Zayn grips his hair tighter, and Niall lets him guide his mouth back down to his dick.

Niall finally finds a rhythm after a few minutes, long hard tugs into shallow bobs before he pulls away for air and licks up the pulsing vein on the underside of Zayn’s cock. The pace seems to be driving him mad, when Niall looks up, the unicorn’s head has fallen onto Zayn’s shoulder revealing the pained expression as he bites down onto his hand to keep himself from crying out.

And well, fuck, Niall didn’t think he was that good but it gives him a boost of assurance, pumping Zayn faster into his mouth to earn a muffled whine.

Confident in the rhythm, Niall grabs his own cock, giving it a few strokes before pulling himself out. He can taste the bitter saltiness of pre-come starting to stain his tongue. He slackens his jaw, letting the pearls dribble and mix with the spit from his mouth down along Zayn’s shaft where it collects along his fist, slicking up Zayn’s cock as he pulls.

“Christ,” Zayn whimpers.

It’s Niall who comes first. Something in the way Zayn looks at him through his long dark lashes, mouth parted and cheekbones sharp. Maybe it’s the way he looks down in awe when his fingers gingerly touch Niall’s cheek just to feel himself through Niall’s mouth. It has Niall shooting up into his hand and onto his t-shirt and he probably should have thought that out better. He moans around Zayn’s cock before he can stop himself and Zayn smacks his arm against the back of the couch, bucking up into Niall’s mouth like he can’t help it. Niall squeezes his eyes as they water, throat closing around a gag and no, this isn’t how he’s going to finish Zayn. He stops, takes takes deep breaths through his nose that Zayn can surely feel against his dick and hear before calming himself and continuing.

Niall’s jaw is aching when Zayn finally comes, a loud moan ringing through his clenched teeth. Niall doesn’t swallow, lets the come slip out of his mouth as he pulls off, stroking Zayn through his orgasm.

Zayn pulls Niall back up against him, and it’s much less a kiss than it is them panting against each other’s mouths.

“Should see y’self, Niall,” he slurs, closing his eyes. “Jesus.”

They both stumble off the couch a few minutes later to clean up. Zayn points Niall in the direction of the bathroom where Niall rinses his mouth out and surveys the damage on his shirt. Of course, he had to wear a plain black t-shirt. 

Zayn’s disappeared by the time Niall makes it back to the couch, but his trackies are gone. So Niall figures he takes the couch tonight. It’s not so bad. But Zayn’s back a couple minutes later, handing Niall a new shirt that says “cool kids don’t dance”.

“Thanks.” Niall takes it and pulls his own off.

“I’ll toss it in the wash later,” Zayn says, picking it from Niall’s lap.

Niall’s a bit confused as to when later is when Zayn comes back again, positioning himself between Niall and the couch. The unicorn is thrown over them for extra cover and Niall sighs against Zayn’s neck.

“Girls asleep?”

He can feel Zayn nod against him. 

“Out like lights.”

Niall hums, finding blinking harder as his eyes start to droop.

“Good.”

 

**& &**

 

At first, he hears it while he’s dreaming. Or Niall thinks he’s dreaming anyway. But Gabby’s giggling gets clearer and clearer until he’s cracking his eyes open and both her and Aliyah are standing over them, grinning like maniacs and still in last night’s clothes.

“Why are they on the couch together?” Aliyah whispers, dragging her unicorn from them.

Niall takes a deep breath, decides to make his presence known.

“Mornin’, princess,” he croaks. His tongue feels like a dried up cotton ball and the taste in his mouth is almost enough to make him vomit. Curry, wine, and semen; a great combination.

“Da!” Gabby squeaks.

Niall feels Zayn shift under him.

“Hey girls.”

“Morning daddy!”

Aliyah leans in for a good morning kiss and Niall wishes he could’ve seen that as Gabby kisses his own cheek.

“What are you doing on the couch with Aliyah’s daddy?” Gabby asks and Niall wants to groan. Suddenly, last night seems like a stupid idea. Irresponsible at best.

“We stayed up a bit late, Gabs. It was a sleepover for everyone.”

“Can we have pancakes, daddy?”

“Sure, love,” Zayn says, shifting from under Niall so he can get out. Then Niall remembers. He grabs Zayn’s hip quickly, earning a sharp, displeased inhale.

“Don’t move,” he whispers.

The girls don’t notice a thing, giggling and trampling back to the kitchen with promises of pancakes and it’s only when they’re out of sight that Niall sits up straight, zipping and buttoning up his jeans. Zayn plants his feet on the ground, rubbing at his temples.

“Hangover?” He asks Niall.

“Nah. ‘M Irish,” Niall says. Zayn grins back.

Niall’s thinking a good morning kiss from Zayn wouldn’t be so bad, but Zayn breaks the look first, yawning and stretching before getting up and padding into the kitchen to make the pancakes. The sinking feeling last night might not have been such a good idea comes rushing back as he spots the bottle of wine, three quarters done, by Zayn’s end of the couch. Niall sighs, gets up, and takes the nearly empty bottle into the kitchen.

“Y’can jus’ dump that in the sink,” Zayn says, grabbing a mixing bowl from the pantry.

So Niall does.

It feels strangely domestic, watching over the girls with Zayn as they mix the pre-packaged mix and the rest of the ingredients together. Maybe it’s because he blew Zayn when he was supposed to go home, when he wasn’t even supposed to stay for dinner originally. It sets off a warm feeling in his belly that tells him he wouldn’t mind waking up to this everyday. He sticks close to Zayn, dancing fingertips along the small of his back, and it should worry him how attached he is to this moment, how invested he is in cooking everyone’s pancakes to perfection when he offers as Zayn looks on, a small smile on his lips.

They only have one meltdown, when Gabby doesn’t seem to understand why Aliyah doesn’t like maple syrup and wants her to try it anyway, managing a dollop on one of her pancakes before Aliyah screams. It’s nothing a sincere apology and a lecture on how people can like different foods can’t fix, and Aliyah ends up eating the pancake anyway. The girls are back to being best friends as their fathers end up taking clean up duty so they can have a little bit of time to play in Aliyah’s room.

Thankfully, after getting some tea and food into his system Niall’s mouth feels less like a dried up cotton ball, and he sets to drying the dishes at Zayn’s side again.

It’s a little awkward, how hard Zayn’s concentrating on scrubbing the plates and Niall hopes this little feeling of irresponsibility in his chest isn’t eating at Zayn as well.

“Y’alright, Zayn?” He tries.

Zayn nods, and any attempt at conversation falls flat.

“Look,” Zayn finally says after a while. “About last night, it was okay, right?”

Niall looks up from a sudsy fork, a bit surprised.

“Yeah, ‘course. Why wouldn’t it be okay?”

Zayn shakes his head.

“I didn’t mean to get you drunk,” he chuckles humourlessly.

“Mate, I was hardly tipsy,” Niall smiles.

“Right, right. Something about you being Irish,” Zayn finally starts grinning.

Niall abandons the dried fork and slaps the dishrag against Zayn’s ass, not counting on him to fling bubbles and water back. They try to keep calm, keep their laughter as low as possible as to not draw the girls’ attention, but they come creeping around the corner to see what the commotion is. The kitchen explodes with high-pitched giggles and screams into a full-out battlefield, soap and suds and water flying everywhere, daughters against fathers. Soon, the kitchen floor is flooded, glistening in a sheen of slippery puddles. 

Even with warnings of watching where they step and not to run, Niall can’t seem to keep his eyes off Zayn, still amazed by how his eyes quite literally sparkle as if he’s a character in a Disney movie, especially when he looks at Aliyah. And then, with a piercing cackle, she smacks him right in the face with the foam dish scrubber.

“Alright, Miss.” Zayn scrubs the suds from his eye and hoists Aliyah over his shoulder. “Time to get cleaned up. Niall, if Gabriella wants to change you can get her changed in the bathroom.”

Niall snaps out of his little trance only to mumble an affirmation and to look at a soaking wet Gabriella, who’s peculiarly taken to looking at Niall like she’s trying to figure something out. He isn’t very comfortable with it, she’s only five.

When Zayn and Aliyah are gone, she taps on his hand and beckons him to kneel down to her.

“Da?” She asks softly.

“Yeah, love?”

“Why do you look at Zayn like he’s a princess?”

Niall’s mouth opens and shuts at least twice before he comes to terms with the fact that he really can’t answer that. Had he even been looking at Zayn like some loved-up prince? He doesn’t think so.

“C’mon, Gabs. Yer gonna get cold dripping wet like that.”

He grabs her overnight bag and leads her to the guest bathroom, where there’s already a towel waiting for her. He towels off her hair for her before rummaging through the bag to give her the toothbrush and toothpaste he had packed.

“Get dressed in the clothes we picked fer t’day, okay?”

Gabby nods and shuts him out of the room.

There’s a text waiting when Niall fetches his phone to check the time. He groans when he reads the 1:00 p.m. and considers replying Barbara’s _how’d it go??_ later, though he sends back a quick _great! She loved it :)_ on a second thought.

Zayn’s cleaning up the mess on the kitchen floor when Niall walks back in.

“Should go soon,” he says after watching him for a few minutes. “Don’t want to overstay our welcome. Need help?”

“Nah, ‘m almost done.” 

Zayn stands up from where he knelt, punctuating that sentence with a wring of the towel he was using above the sink. He pauses before saying,

“Sure you don’t want to stay? ’S after lunch, could make a quick snack?”

Niall laughs.

“Reckon we’re worse than our daughters.”

Zayn grins, and it only takes two steps until he’s kissing Niall again. And yeah, kissing Zayn is definitely one of Niall’s favourite things to do now. He pulls him closer, not sure where this thing is going, but they can figure it out later. Zayn breaks the kiss moments later just in case one of the girls decides to walk in. He wrinkles his nose.

“Your breath smells rank.”

“Guess I’ll have to bring a toothbrush then next time, huh?”

“Please do,” Zayn laughs.

They break apart quickly when Aliyah walks back into the kitchen, followed shortly after by Gabby, all dried off and in a new change of clothes.

Niall clears his throat.

“Ready t’ go, Gabs?”

“Aw, already?”

“We have to get back home, you’ve got school tomorrow. You’ll see Ali at school.”

Gabby and Aliyah put up a small fight, pouting and begging and huffing when they don’t get their way, but they realize five more minutes isn’t going to happen for the second time in a row and hug each other like it’s the last time they’ll ever see each other.

It catches Niall off guard, how awkward it is when Zayn just takes his hand and gives it a firm shake in front of the girls. The instinct to pull Zayn back against his chest tugs at the pit of his stomach, so he drops his hand, grabs Gabby’s.

“So thanks again, I really appreciate it. Gabby?”

“Thank you, Zayn!” She breaks away from Niall, wrapping herself around Zayn as Aliyah follows suit, hugging Niall’s legs and muttering a thank you into his jeans.

“So you liked that sleepover?” Niall asks when they’re finally on their way home.

“Yep!” Gabby chirps happily. “We can do it again, right Da?”

Niall’s phone vibrates in the passenger seat, and he glances over just to see the _sick time babe, had a blast :)_ cross the screen.

“‘Course we can, love.” He smiles.

 

**& &**

 

October passes in a blur of Gabby, working in the studio, and Zayn and Aliyah. More often than not, Niall finds himself and Gabby over for the weekend. And when they’re not, Zayn and Aliyah are over at the Horan residence.

It’s not a steady, solid relationship. Niall isn’t quite sure what he and Zayn are, actually. They never hang out or go on dates when the girls aren’t involved, even though Niall’s thought about bringing it up on more than one occasion. And when the girls are sleeping and they’re left alone for the night, the last thing they do is talk. Niall thinks it’s something to do with both being single fathers, the chemistry between him and Zayn and the need to get laid once in a while. 

But sometimes, after they’ve traded hand jobs or after Zayn lets Niall fuck him, they do talk.

Niall learns that Perrie’s second child is also Zayn’s, and with a big grin on his face, Zayn tells him it’s going to be a boy. Zayn tells him he’s worried that Ali wants to be a tattoo artist like him, but can’t bear not hanging one of her pictures on the fridge and in his workspace. He’s worried about how Perrie’s life is going to affect her and the new baby when they’re older because Little Mix is getting bigger and bigger, and this new-coming album they’re writing is going to be the one to smash it.

Niall admits he’s worried about Barbara, her texts and phone calls have increased since the beginning of the school year and he’s sure she’s going to bring up the possibility of meeting Gabriella properly again soon. He’s fine with that, he really is. But what if she wants her back after they’re apart of each other’s lives again? He doesn’t want Gabby to be thrown into the spotlight either and he’s certainly not ready for a custody battle.

Zayn will just tighten his grip across Niall’s shoulders and kiss his forehead though, and for a moment everything will be fine.

 

**& &**

 

“Da! Which toothbrush is mine?”

Niall takes in a deep, solid breath because he’s already late for dropping Gabby off at school. He rushes to the bathroom, seeing her all dolled up in her Belle costume (for the third time in three years since she was able to pick out her own).

“Whadda you mean, which toothbrush-“ Niall eyes the holder, spying his and three others, one of which looks almost identical to Gabby’s. He plucks hers out of the assortment. “Here, sweetheart. Hurry up, you’ll be late! We want Harry to see your costume, right Princess?”

“Yeah!”

He checks his phone while he waits, sending a quick _may or may not be on time_ to Liam before seeing Zayn’s _ready for tonite? ;)_

Niall is about to send back a cheeky remark about tonight being about the girls and trick-or-treating when Zayn texts again, _Perrie’s coming, is that alright?_

Niall assures him that it’s fine, and Gabby finally hops out of the bathroom so they can leave.

Liam looks less than impressed when Niall meets up with him after dropping Gabby off with Harry. (He loved the costume and Niall’s sure Gabby has a little five-year-old crush on him).

“Don’t look so serious,” Niall bumps his shoulder. “Was only fifteen minutes late. Gabby couldn’t tell which toothbrush was hers.”

Liam breaks the stare to raise his eyebrow. Niall had given him a few details about the situation, how he and Zayn were kind of-sort of seeing each other, but only under the supervision of their children. He didn’t exactly say how serious their not-relationship was getting. To be honest, Niall doesn’t really think about it much, how he’s borrowed at least half of Zayn’s shirts and how his favourite “Crazy Mofos” shirt is missing. He’s just enjoying this thing with Zayn for what it is.

Liam, thankfully though, doesn’t say anything, or ask Niall how attached Gabby’s gotten to Zayn. That conversation went nowhere good last time.

“What are your plans for tonight?” He asks instead.

And, ah, there’s Zayn again.

“Going to Zayn’s so the girls can trick-or-treat around the building.”

Liam puffs out his chest, and for a second, Niall thinks he’s jealous. To be fair, if Gabby didn’t have Aliyah, Niall probably would have forced her to make friends with William and George and Halloween would have been spent with the Paynes.

“What about you?”

“We’re going to take them around the block, watch some kid-friendly scary movies.”

The conversation falls flat, and Niall wishes he wasn’t so late today. Perrie would have known how to smooth things out, or avoid them completely now that she’s joined their post-drop off conversations.

It’s not long before Liam mumbles something about having to go. Niall feels sort of bad, like it’s his fault they haven’t been talking very well, so he pulls him into a big hug, Liam tensing for a moment before he crushes Niall against his chest.

“Y’know I love you, right Li?” He wheezes.

Liam chuckles behind his ear.

“Yeah, mate. Love you too.”

“We’ll get together sometime,” Niall says, breaking away. “Jus’ the lads. Bring Harry and Lou again too.”

Even though Niall is still a bit foggy on how Liam is on honest-to-God best friend terms with the couple.

“You can bring Zayn along too if you want,” Liam replies, offering a smile and a wave before he’s off.

Zayn texts Niall again later while he’s lounging around the studio with Paul and Ashley. None of their other clients wanted to come in for their respective sessions, and all Ashley is focussing on is eating a whole jumbo bag of M&Ms, so the day is pretty much a write-off.

_Lots of walk-ins, might be a bit late, can you hang around with Ali till I get there?_

It’s not a problem for Niall, he’s done this before, and he spends the rest of his afternoon egging Ashley on until she starts to feel poorly with all the chocolate she’s eaten.

“You’re so fired if she gets sick over all this equipment, Horan,” Paul chuckles as Ashley groans again.

By the time Niall arrives to pick Aliyah and Gabby up, Zayn’s texted again saying he’s not going to be able to get out any time soon and to just come by and pick up the keys to his apartment, he’ll get Perrie to pick him up when she’s on her way.

“Where’s daddy?” Aliyah asks after Niall’s got them both secured into the back seats.

“Just at work. I’m going to take you guys home, is that alright?”

Both girls nod, and he starts following the directions Zayn’s given him to the shop.

It’s busy inside when Niall pulls up to the curb and Aliyah immediately recognizes where they are.

“I’m just going to get the keys, I’ll be right back.”

“Can I come in too, Da?”

At first, Niall’s sure that he’s heard wrong, that it’s Gabby and not Aliyah looking back at him with a big “please” pout written all over her face. But it’s Aliyah who’s called him Da and it hits him like a hard punch to the gut. He swallows thickly.

“I’ll just be a second, love.” Niall’s sure his voice has gone an octave higher with shock. “Daddy will be there tonight for trick-or-treating.”

“You promise?” Aliyah frowns.

“Promise.”

Niall bursts through the door of the tattoo shop with the biggest smile he thinks he’s ever smiled.

Even Zayn’s looking at him, pleasantly surprised and a bit weirded out as he weaves, keys in hand, through the gaggle of walk-ins waiting their quick Halloween flash. As soon as he’s close enough, Niall’s pulling him into a tight hug, giggling into the side of his neck.

“What’s gotten into you?” Zayn asks, and it’s almost like he looks fond when Niall pulls back and faces him.

To be honest, Niall doesn’t know what’s gotten into himself either, all he knows is that his chest feels so big it might explode.

“Ali might’ve just called me her Da.”

Zayn gasps sharply, eyebrows shooting up above the long strands of hair that refused to be tied back.

“Ali?”

Niall nods, feeling his cheeks getting sore from all the grinning.

Zayn kisses him, quick and on the lips but that’s all that’s needed to elicit a sharp wolf whistle from a tattooing station. The kid barely looks over twenty-two, with a tattoo machine in one hand and an orange in the other, bright red hair and an eyebrow piercing.

“Don’t listen to him,” Zayn mutters with a mischievous grin, handing Niall the keys. “He’s the apprentice. He’s an idiot. I’ll see you later, okay?”

Niall nods, and Zayn hurries back to his station.

Aliyah doesn’t call Niall her Da again, but she clings to him the way she usually does Zayn when they get back to Zayn’s apartment, and it’s so apparent that Gabby notices and gets extremely jealous- of her father.

“Hey, why don’t we take a picture of your awesome costumes?” He suggests, trying to pry Aliyah from his side.

Gabby groans in embarrassment.

“Da, you do this every time. I’m always Belle, you know that!”

“Then maybe wear a different costume next time, Princess.”

Gabby’s never looked so offended in her life.

He’s finally able to wrangle a cozy picture of Belle and Raven grinning from ear to ear with their arms around each other and as a reward, he lets them set up the candy bowl for other trick-or-treaters in the building while he sends the picture off to Barbara.

_Belle again?? Looks a bit small on her._

_She’s her fave princess._

_Who’s that beside her?_

_Her friend Aliyah._

_Cute! Give them my love xx_

Niall decides it’s distant enough to let his worries slide for the time being and sets on trying to get the girls to eat a proper dinner after realizing leaving them alone with bags of candy wasn’t the brightest idea.

Zayn and Perrie arrive two hours later, thankfully after Niall’s coaxed the girls into some pasta.

“Hi girls!” Perrie singsongs, twirling for an awe-struck Gabby despite her belly to show off her Elsa costume. “Hi Niall.”

“Hello, love. You look beautiful, how’re you feeling?”

Perrie rolls her eyes. 

“Like me back’s startin’ to kill already. It was like this with Aliyah too. And where’s your costume, mister?”

“Didn’t have time to grab it when I picked the girls up,” Niall grins. “I was goin’ ta be Prince Charming, I swear.”

It’s not a lie, but Perrie just laughs along like it’s a joke. Zayn, who had disappeared as soon as they got in, returns in an authentic looking Batman suit. Niall’s eyes widen, more than impressed and secretly a bit turned on. He has to remind himself not to just walk over and kiss Zayn. It wasn’t a problem at the shop, but there’s this unspoken rule about not letting the girls know quite yet, to just feel this thing out a little longer before making any big decisions. Also, it would be decidedly awkward to kiss Zayn in front of his ex when Niall is friends with her as well.

“Have the girls had supper?”

“Yeah, I made them pasta.”

Perrie smiles.

“Alright then, what does everyone say we get going?”

Perrie is first to go after the girls when they bound out of the apartment, plastic pumpkins in hand and ready to be filled. Niall drags Zayn back, smashing their lips together as he nearly backs Zayn into the wall.

“Alright there?” Zayn chuckles.

Niall wants to kiss that stupid smirk off this face, but they don’t have a lot of time, and Perrie is probably already wondering what they’re doing.

So Niall settles for this:

“I’d totally let you bone me in this suit.”

Apparently, Zayn finds this hilarious and nearly doubles over with laughter, ruining what at least Niall had thought was an intimate moment. But his grip is tight on Niall’s waist in the pause that follows and thankfully, the knock on the door is a pair of little footballers.

Perrie and the girls are already down the hall when Niall and Zayn lock the apartment door and leave the bowl of candy at the step.

Trick-or-treating in an apartment in the heart of London is a lot different than taking Gabby around his parents’ neighbourhood. There’s no “Niall! Great t’see ya lad!” or “Gabby’s getting so big!” and a lot more “look at how cute!” as all the girls spin and twirl to show off their costumes. His chest starts to ache. He realizes it’s been doing that more often than not, if he lets himself think about it too much. He and Gabby have only been in London for five months, and Niall won’t say he regrets moving, he just misses Mullingar terribly.

“You okay?” Zayn asks when Niall looks over to see what brushed his hand. “Seem a bit off.”

Niall manages a smile, forcing the untimely ache to the back of his mind with a promise of FaceTiming his mum and da. 

“Yeah, ‘m fine.”

“C’mon, Prince Charming. We’ll never catch up with the girls at this point.”

It’s well past ten when everyone decides it’s time to head back to Zayn’s flat. Perrie’s got two hands permanently glued to her back and an uncomfortable frown on her face, and the girls are dragging their feet until they stumble through the threshold into the flat.

“Pez, you want a cup of tea?”

“Please,” Perrie groans, flopping down onto the couch with an exhausted sigh.

“Da, can I have my candy now?”

“Only one, Princess.”

Gabby frowns, too tired to put up a real fight, and starts digging through her pumpkin for a Snickers bar.

“Reckon I’ll have some tea too,” Niall excuses himself into the kitchen just to steal another moment with Zayn.

“You staying tonight?” He pulls off his mask.

“Don’t think I should,” Niall sighs. “Are we keeping this from-?”

“For now, yeah. ’S for the best.”

“I should go before her so she doesn’t suspect then.”

Zayn’s jaw tightens, but he nods in agreement.

“Did you want some?” He motions to the boiling kettle.

“I should go.”

Aliyah and Gabby are halfway clocked out on Perrie after Niall steals a quick kiss from Zayn and returns to the living room.

“Niall, I was wondering if Gabby would want to come ‘round mine with Aliyah and the girls tomorrow, we do our own little Girl’s Night for Halloween.”

Niall assumes Perrie is referring to the other women in Little Mix. He still hasn’t found the right way to break it to Gabby that Perrie is one-fourth of the girlband yet, so he’s a bit hesitant.

“She really likes this band called Little Mix, don’t you Gabs?”

Gabby manages a small nod against Perrie’s belly.

“And she hasn’t really discovered who they are exactly,” he finishes.

Perrie smiles gently.

“I’m sure we can work something out if you’re comfortable with that.”

Niall finally agrees when Zayn brings Perrie’s tea.

“What’s happening?” He asks.

“I’m going to take Gabby with Aliyah tomorrow,” Perrie tells him. “Where can I pick her up?”

“I’ve got an appointment at the shop tomorrow since you’re taking Aliyah,” Zayn says. “Won’t be out ‘till half four.”

“You can just swing by mine,” Niall offers. “I have the day off. You okay with that, Gabs? You want to sleep over with Ali and Perrie?”

“Yes please,” she whispers, rubbing at her eyes.

“Think she’s trick-or-treated out,” Niall says. “Should be going. Thanks for the night, I’m sure Gabby thought it was sick.”

“Thanks for coming.”

Perrie gives him a quick peck on each cheek again, and if Niall digs his fingers harder into Zayn’s back as they shake hands and pull each other close, he doesn’t think Zayn notices with the batsuit. 

“I’ll be there by twelve,” Perrie says after he’s gathered Gabby and her pumpkin into his arms.

 

**& &**

 

It might not be the brightest idea Niall’s ever had, but with Perrie watching the girls, it’s the best opportunity they’ve had since Niall blew Zayn under that pillow pet.

He checks the time on his phone again and he’s a bit early at four sixteen, but he figures he can just wait inside the shop for Zayn to finish.

It’s a lot calmer than yesterday, all the clients being appointments. The apprentice with the bright red hair sees him from the front desk immediately.

“Hey mate, what can I do for you?”

“Oh, I’m just waiting for Zayn.”

The apprentice’s face lights up with recognition. 

“Oh right, you’re the bloke who snogged him clear in front of everyone yesterday!” 

Niall snorts nervously.

“Yeah, I guess y’could say that.”

“He’s just finishing up an appointment, he shouldn’t be long.”

As promised, Zayn comes out from his station at half past four, following his client. All Niall can catch is a “take care” before his eyes land on him and Zayn stills in surprise. Niall sits up from the bench and walks over, returning the hug Zayn gives.

“I didn’t know you were coming,” Zayn smiles.

“Figured I could surprise you. Wanted to make up for last night, wanted to stay. Also, this is the first time we’ve got time all to ourselves.”

“Oi, no more snogging in the shop, Malik. This is a clean, sanitary place,” the apprentice chides.

“Fuck off, twat.”

Niall lets Zayn gather up his stuff before taking him out to a little American joint he had found by chance.

It’s weird, not having Gabby and Ali with them. There’s no one to watch or parent and after five years that sometimes feel like a lifetime, it’s nice to have time for himself- and Zayn. It’d be a good time to talk about whatever they are, but Niall asks Zayn about the piece he was doing when he got to the shop and Zayn asks how working at the recording studio went for that week. And by the time their food comes, a comfortable silence falls around them.

“So when’s Perrie due?” 

It’s not the best question, but it fills the car up with something other than the radio on the way back to Niall’s flat. And it seems as though anything’s better than the question that’s weighing down Niall’s thoughts.

“January sixteenth,” Zayn sighs. “His name’s Henri. With an I.”

“With an I?” Niall looks over at him.

Zayn nods. “I picked Ali’s and we’re not exactly in this together anymore, so it seemed fair.”

“You don’t like it though,” Niall observes.

“Not one bit,” Zayn smiles back weakly. “I’ll be lucky enough to get him weekends with Aliyah though. Kind of can’t wait until Perrie’s back on tour. Then I get the kids all to m’self.”

Niall hums softly, content with Zayn’s fingers stroking his own on the stick shift.

“Didn’t care much for Gabby’s name at first. But Barbara already told me that’s what it was gonna be and it was final. Sort o’ grew on me.”

Niall starts counting the missed opportunities after that. In the carpark, when he goes to grab Zayn’s hand instead, when Zayn squeezes back tighter, up against the wall back in Niall’s flat and Niall instead chokes on a “wish we were back at yours so we could try out that batsuit”, and on the bed where Niall nods and says “fuck me”. He could even count during the sex, Zayn bent over him and pounding into him painfully slow as he folds his hands over Niall’s. 

It feels a bit early for the “I love you” caught at the back of his throat as he cries out and buries his face into the pillow, but he’s not sure how else to describe it when he rolls over to face Zayn again and swears he’s imagining stars in his hazel eyes. So Niall pulls him closer and kisses him so fiercely Zayn pulls back stunned. And maybe he can already tell what Niall’s thinking with the way Niall brushes his fingers against his jaw and exhales heavily.

They wake up on Sunday with enough time for a quick round of morning sex and for Niall to bring Zayn back to his place before Perrie drops Gabby off at Niall’s.

Niall barely manages a quick shower before Perrie is knocking at his door again and an over-excited and hyper Gabby is bouncing into the flat.

“Thanks again for watching her. How’d it go?”

“A bit shocked at first,” Perrie grins. “But we all did a few singalongs, painted our nails, ate candy.”

“Didn’t go to bed too late, did you?” Niall asks his daughter.

“No,” she giggles.

“They were out by ten,” Perrie winks.

“Want a cuppa?” Niall suddenly remembers to ask.

“I’d love to, but Jade’s watching Ali and I should really get back. I’ve got yoga today.”

After a few more minutes of back and forth chitchat, Perrie leaves and Niall turns around to see the pile of Little Mix paraphernalia Gabby must have been treated with. 

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me, Da.”

“Tell you what? What colour are your nails- pink? Nice!”

“That Ali’s mom was in Little Mix!”

He spends the rest of the day putting up posters in her room, listening to Gabby babble on and on about how fun hanging out with the girls was. Hearing all of her girl talk makes him think, and not for the first time, that letting Barbara, whenever she’s ready, into Gabby’s life wouldn’t be that terrible an idea. It might even be for the better.

 

**& &**

 

November turns into a personal hell for Niall even though he’d been expecting it. A few of the artists at the studio are dropping their albums over the course of the month and there are a lot of last minute details to tie up.

At least Paul lets him get away to pick up the girls and drop them off at Zayn’s when he’s out of the shop.

He drops the milk into the trolly and steers it towards the bread, mentally checking it off the list of things Zayn is running out of while he’s biding his time at Tesco’s.

“Da, ‘m tired,” Gabby whines as she rubs her eyes.

“Did you nap at school today?”

She shakes her head.

“Well, maybe that’s why you’re tired Princess.”

He knows she’s also picking up his vibes, and he feels like he hasn’t gotten a solid eight hours in a while.

“Da, can I get this?”

When Niall turns around, tossing a back of rolls into the trolly, Aliyah’s handing him a six pack of chocolate donuts.

Niall doesn’t even have the fight in him, so he takes the box and drops that onto the bread with a small smile tickling at his lips.

“You’re going to share with Gabriella, right babe?” He smacks the hair in Gabby’s hand away from her mouth, earning a strangled whine and a little stomp.

Aliyah nods and Niall figures he’s got about two minutes before Gabby has a tantrum in the middle of the Tesco so he figures he can make a final run for the toilet paper and get out.

He isn’t even looking as he turns the cart and almost runs right into Perrie.

“Shit! F- sorry, Perrie. Oh my god, you’re fine, right?”

Perrie nods as Aliyah screams and runs to her, wrapping around her frame.

“Yeah, I’m- hi baby. How are you?” Perrie looks back up at Niall, eyes wide like she’s heard their whole conversation.

“Niall? What are you doing with-?”

The question dies on her lips as realization dawns on her face.

“Oh my god. You and-?”

Niall bites at his lip and shifts his feet, unsure of what to say.

“Yeah, y’could say that.”

A flash of what looks like betrayal crosses her face before it crumples and Niall definitely isn’t prepared for this.

“Perrie, you okay?”

She nods and sniffs a deep breath.

“I mean, we haven’t been separated very long, so it’s a bit… I mean, people move on at different paces, right? I just didn’t think-“

The tears are close to spilling from her eyes, as close as the words “it was you” are from tumbling from her lips. So Niall opens his arms and she falls into them easily even though Aliyah and her belly give them a bit of trouble. The baby moves suddenly then, punching against Niall’s own stomach and it sinks in deep, that if he stays with Zayn this baby is going to be a part of his and Gabby’s lives too. It won’t be just one or even two kids anymore, it’ll be three. And he and Zayn still haven’t talked about anything. Niall doesn’t know how he missed that.

“I mean, I’m glad it’s you, I really am. I can see you make him happy.” Perrie forces a smile. “And I like you too. I just- I didn’t know what to do when I suspected he was seeing someone.”

“Mum, are you okay?” Aliyah asks.

Perrie pulls away from Niall, hand over her nose.

“Mummy’ll be fine, love. Go with your Da, okay?” Aliyah nods and walks back to Niall’s trolly. “I’ll be fine, Niall. I should go though.”

“Take care, Pez.”

Niall means to tell Zayn what happened at Tesco’s, but it’s already nearing half four when he gets back to the flat and Niall had told Paul he’d be back before four.

“I need to head back to the studio, you can handle the girls?”

Zayn nods.

“What time’ll you be back?”

“Probably late.”

Niall smacks a loud, wet kiss goodbye on Zayn’s lips only to realize belatedly that the girls are right there.

“Ew! Da!”

“Oh my god, Da you kissed him! You told me you didn’t want to!”

He leaves the flat with a grin on his face and a bounce to his step.

 

**& &**

 

It’s nearing twelve when Niall finally pulls into the carpark at Zayn’s flat later on that month. He kills the engine and falls back against the seat again with a tired sigh, watching as the snow floats down and melts onto the heat of the windshield. It’s the first snow of the season, and being right at the end of November, it’s right on time. That doesn’t mean Niall’s any more excited to scrape it off tomorrow morning.

Zayn’s draped over the couch and snoring softly when he finally steps back inside the flat. Niall considers ignoring the _wake me up when you get back_ text, but all he wants to do is crash into bed with Zayn at his side, so he shakes him awake gently.

“How’d it go?” Zayn mumbles.

“Album’s released,” Niall says. “They’re probably still partyin’.”

Zayn nods as he pushes himself up off the couch and shoulders past Niall when he tries to lean in for a kiss. Niall frowns, wondering what he’s moody over this time.

“Babe?” Niall tries, following Zayn into the bedroom. “Sorry if I woke you, are the girls-?”

“They were good. Out by eight.”

“Z, what’s-“

“I talked to Pez today.”

“Okay?” Niall crosses his arms, unsure of where this is going because Zayn talks to her nearly everyday. They have two kids together, why wouldn’t they?

“I didn’t know you two ran into each other a few weeks back,” Zayn elaborates shortly.

And _oh_. That.

“She thought it was a bit weird that you didn’t tell me.”

“That was the day I had to rush back to the studio,” Niall says.

Zayn pulls off his shirt.

“And the day after that? And the day after that too? Perrie’s doing a lot for us right now, Niall.”

And Niall doesn’t deny it. She should be canonized a saint for all that she’s doing: picking up and entertaining the girls when Niall’s stuck at the studio and Zayn picks up more appointments at the shop while she’s seven months along- all while knowing that Niall and Zayn are boning when it hasn’t even been a year since she and Zayn broke it off.

“Are you pissed?” It comes out more accusatory than Niall would have liked, and Zayn narrows his eyes at him.

“I don’t know, Niall, what would I have to be pissed about?” He hisses. “The fact that Perrie knows? The fact that Perrie knows and you didn’t tell me? She nearly broke down in a fuckin’ Tesco’s cause her daughter’s calling her ex’s friend her father.” Zayn whips his balled-up shirt onto the floor. “She calls you Da all the time now, Niall.”

And somehow, Niall gets the feeling that Perrie finding out isn’t exactly the main issue here. 

“Can you keep your voice down?”

Zayn goes livid, clenching his fists and breathing hard.

Finally, the question that’s been bothering Niall these past few months is spit out into the open.

“What is this?” Zayn gestures between them. “What is this because we can’t just fuck off like we’re twen’y. We’ve got two kids between us and I’ve one on the way. They’re already leading pretty screwy lives with us as it is-“

“They’re not screwy,” Niall bites back defensively.

“Compared to Liam’s they are. Look, I just- we need to decide if this is serious. ‘M not gonna tell Aliyah her Da isn’t gonna be here to wake up anymore on weekends one day. And I’m not ready to give Gabby up either.”

Having Zayn refer to Niall as Aliyah’s Da hits him hard in the chest. Suddenly, the situation weighs heavy on his shoulders. While they’re off blowing each other under pillow pets and in the shower and just about anytime they can get away from the girls, the girls have accepted this as concrete. That both their da and daddy are important parts of each of their lives.

“Perrie and I cocked up and hurt Aliyah in the process. I’m not gonna have that happen to her again.”

“Zayn, how- Zayn fuck, how long has this been bothering you?”

“Where are you sleeping?”

“I- with you? We need to talk about this because-“

“Because clearly we’re not on the same page,” Zayn finishes.

“No,” Niall admits. “But I want to be, I really-“

“And I’m tired. You’re tired too. I think you should take some time and think about what you want.”

“Jesus Christ, Zayn.” Niall grits his teeth. “I can’t think about what I want when I don’t know where you stand. Do you want us to be serious- god- fuck you, Zayn.”

Niall exhales shakily, tense as he watches Zayn crawl into bed and pull the covers over his body, cutting off the conversation.

It’s the first time they fall asleep at opposite sides of the bed.

When Niall wakes up, Zayn’s side of the bed has gone cold. He could swear he woke up to Zayn pressed against him in the middle of the night, but he shoves that thought to the back of his head as he gets dressed and ready to go home.

Gabby and Aliyah are already at the little island in the kitchen, watching as Zayn mixes the batter for some pancakes.

“Mornin’, Da!” Gabby chirps, hugging him.

“Morning, Princess. C’mon, we’re gonna go, okay?”

Gabby pulls away, confused.

“But Zayn’s making breakfast.”

“I don’t care. We’re leaving, I’ll get you something on the way.”

Zayn doesn’t say anything, but Niall knows by the tension in his shoulders that he wants to as he stops stirring the pancake mix.

“But Da-“

“Gabriella, now!”

She jumps, startled at the rise in his voice, and doesn’t protest any further when he hoists her onto his hip. Zayn watches as they gather Gabby’s stuff and leave, jaw set and fingers gripping at the counter. 

“Da?” Aliyah squeaks, hopping down from her stool to follow.

“Ali, don’t,” Zayn says, grabbing her back.

“Daddy, I wanna say bye, why are they leaving?”

Niall doesn’t mean to slam the door behind him as hard as he does and sets Gabby down once she starts whimpering into his shirt.

“Gabs, Gabby I’m sorry,” he pulls the jacket over her frame and waits until she’s got both arms in the sleeves.

She wipes at her eyes, face already wet and splotchy red- something she unfortunately got from him- and he tucks her feet into her boots.

“Why can’t we stay?” She chokes.

“Da’s got stuff to do, Princess.”

“But I always stay with Zayn when you have stuff to do.”

Niall doesn’t bother fighting her, just tucks her into the backseat of the car and grabs her McDonald’s on the way to their flat.

If it seems cold and unwelcoming when Niall steps back in, he doesn’t acknowledge it. He doesn’t even argue when Gabby storms off to her room with her breakfast in hand.

 

**& &**

 

Niall gives himself some time to stew in his own frustrations for a few days, helps Ashley write some angsty lyrics that she really digs, and keeps his own lyrics to himself when they hit a bit too close to home.

On top of it all, Christmas is fast approaching. They’re five days into December, Niall’s parents are bugging him about when he’s going to come home, and Niall hasn’t got a clue about what to get anyone except Gabby.

And Zayn hasn’t tried to contact him.

It worries Niall a little bit, even though Zayn was the one to broach the subject of their relationship first. The silence at his end is maddening, and Niall still has no clue what to get him for Christmas.

He checks his phone for the millionth time that day, and the only text and missed call are from Barbara.

_Can you call me when you get this?_

Niall puts it off for as long as he can, running around to purchase a few gifts for the girls and his family. He even spots an item that screams Zayn and ignores the emptiness in his chest all the way to the checkout.

Niall doesn’t think commitment is the issue here. He loves Zayn and he loves Ali as much as he does Gabby. Zayn’s apartment has even begun to feel more like home than Niall’s own does. It just feels right, how easily their two families fall into domesticity together. Niall sighs, because the only problem here is communication, and he’s terrified that Zayn won’t talk to him about this, will shut him out like he did the night before Niall left.

He finally decides to call Barbara later on in the day, after Gabby’s stormed off to her room in a refusal to speak with him until they go back to Zayn’s.

“Niall? Hey, thanks so much for calling back.”

Somehow, her soft voice is exactly what he needs to destress.

“What time is it over there, B?”

“I’m in New York, it’s around noon. I actually wanted to talk to you about something.”

“I figured,” he chuckles nervously.

“I think- I think I want to see Gabriella. I know we said that she wouldn’t know me, but… And she’s going to start asking sooner or later, right?”

Niall knows what she’s doing, trying to manipulate him. But the thing is, he doesn’t think she needs to. Niall exhales, feeling like his chest is caving in. He tells himself he shouldn’t be surprised. He isn’t really, just filling with dread.

“Okay.” It’s a lot easier to say than he expects.

“Okay?” Relief floods Barbara’s voice.

“I mean, we’re pretty busy for the holidays-“

“And my schedule is hectic for the beginning of next year.”

“Think you can wait until Spring? Maybe the summer after Gabby’s out of school?”

“Yes, yes. Thanks- thank you so much Niall. This really means a lot. I’ve been missing her so much lately and I promise I won’t take her away, I’ll be a friend or an aunt, I don’t care-“

“I think she needs a mum though,” Niall admits.

Barbara swears she’s crying happy tears when Niall asks, and they talk a bit more about nothing in particular, agreeing that they’ll work out the finer details when the time comes and their schedules allow for it. Niall breathes easier, knowing he has time to wrap his head around this and introduce Gabby to the idea.

 

**& &**

 

Niall’s trying to get Gabriella to eat her peas when his phone vibrates with Zayn’s number. His heart drops into his stomach, the call more than welcome after seven days of nothing.

“If I come back and you’re not done with your peas, you’re not watching telly tonight,” Niall warns before he retreats to his room to take the call.

“Zayn, hey.”

“Da, it’s Aliyah.”

“Ali? What are you doing with your dad’s-“

“I miss you, Da. I want to see you and Gabby again.”

Her voice sounds so small over the line, and the last thing on Niall’s mind is how she got her father’s phone.

“I know, babe. I’m sorry.”

“Are you leaving us? Daddy’s not been happy.”

“Ali, no,” Niall groans. “No one’s leaving.”

“Are you having a tiff?”

It hits Niall hard, because Gabby just asked him the same thing the other day.

Before Niall can answer, he hears shuffling on Aliyah’s end of the line; Zayn’s found out.

“Hello? I’m really sorry about-“

“Zayn.”

Zayn goes silent, and Niall figures this might be his only chance before Zayn can hang up on him.

“Zayn, I’m sorry. I- um. I want to be on the same page as you. Whatever that is, but I reckon I have a good idea of what it is.”

“Ali thought you left us for good,” Zayn finally says. Niall doesn’t pretend to not hear the crack in his voice.

“I want us to do this,” Niall says. He doesn’t think he’s been as sure about anything in his life. “I want us to work.”

“I do to, I miss coming home to you.”

“Shit, this is a terrible conversation for over the phone.” Niall laughs nervously, scratching at his brow.

“What about Friday? Friday at six.”

“Like an actual date?”

“The girls will have to come with, Perrie’s feeling poorly lately.”

Niall frowns because as much as he loves them, this is something he and Zayn need to sort out for themselves.

“I have another idea, if you’re alright with it.”

Gabby still hasn’t touched her peas by the time Niall and Zayn hang up, but instead of punishing her, he gives her another chance and offers Friday night with Aliyah and William and George. Gabby hasn’t eaten her vegetables faster.

 

**& &**

 

“Liam, I have a huge favour to ask.”

Liam is silent for a few moments before going “okay?”

“So I have a date Friday night and I was wondering if you could watch Gabby. And Aliyah.”

“Aliyah is Zayn’s, yeah? I was a bit worried when you said you had a date there, mate. Thought you and Zayn were an item.”

Niall really doesn’t want to go into details over the phone.

“Well, we’re kind of hoping this is the date. To firm that up. Are you okay with this? Because if not, I can get someone else,” Niall says, even though he really can’t.

“No, no. It’s not a bother. I’ll just let Sophia know.”

“Liam, you’re a lifesaver. The greatest wingman-“

“Okay, yeah mate. I get it. You’ve been saying that since uni.”

Niall grins.

 

**& &**

 

Zayn is anxious and fidgety after they drop the girls off at Liam’s place on Friday night.

“You sure you’re alright with this? ‘Cause I’ve gotta say, I trust Liam with Gabby more than I trust meself.” Niall gives his knee a tight squeeze.

Zayn laughs.

“That’s not - I haven’t been ice skating for years, and I wasn’t very good last time.”

“Good thing y’only have to impress me,” Niall jokes.

Niall takes his hand when Zayn’s smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Zayn, you gotta talk to me,” he says. “I’m good to move forward with you, but not if-“

“I just needed to know how serious you were,” Zayn finally says. “I mean, I know it hasn’t been long. Christ, Ali and Gabriella aren’t even halfway done this year of school. But, we moved a bit fast and the girls got caught up in it.”

“I am serious,” Niall states. “I really am. I just didn’t know how to say anything. You’re right, we’re moving way too fast and the girls are already probably plannin’ our wedding. But we know what we both want now and we’re going to work on how to get that. We can move at whatever pace we want to, as long as we’re both good with it. Together.”

Zayn just nods in response, but the smile on his face lights up his eyes and Niall doesn’t think they need to say anything else for now.

He ends up taking Zayn to the little American place he ended up enjoying, and he isn’t surprised when Zayn orders the exact same thing he did as the last time.

“So Barbara called,” Niall tries. 

Zayn looks up from his plate, mid-bite.

“She finally told me,” he elaborates. “She’s been wanting to see Gabby for a while.”

Zayn nods slowly.

“What are you going to do?”

“She’s a good person, Zayn.” Niall wants him to be a part of this. “I think she means well and Gabby needs a mum.”

“Gabby was fine with just one dad,” Zayn says. “She’s fine with two, she’ll be fine with two dads and a mum. She doesn’t need a certain amount of parental figures of each gender.”

“That’s- I know. I know she’s completely fine with us. She’s fine with Perrie too. I just- I think it’d be nice for her to know Barbara. She’s been going on and on about her mum for ages and she’s just really curious. It won’t be for another while as of right now anyway, we’re both busy.”

Zayn shrugs.

“If you’re okay with it, I’m okay with it too.”

And Niall feels like they’re on the same page again.

Later on, Niall discovers that Zayn is in fact definitely shit at ice skating. But Niall can’t fault him, he looks absolutely breathtaking under the lights.

“I’m embarrassin’ meself in front of everyone,” he grumps, genuinely upset at his lack of skill as Niall pulls him up again with a laugh. “Shut up.”

“You’re fine, Z. No one’s looking.” Although they definitely should be. Zayn’s cheeks are flushed from the cold, and Niall can’t remember seeing them this dark under his growing stubble. Even though his eyebrows are knitted together in frustration, the light hitting his eyes make them sparkle and swirl with different variations of hazel and gold. Niall thinks he’s stunning. Niall thinks he’s in love. Maybe he even knows it.

The words sit heavy like a lump caught in his throat, and Zayn’s beginning to look at him like he knows something is off.

So instead he says, “we’re okay, yeah?”

Zayn blinks at him for a moment, then wobbles closer. Maybe on the ground it would have felt close and intimate, but on the ice Niall tries not to laugh at how cute Zayn’s ineptitude is. 

“Yeah,” he bumps their foreheads together. “We’re good.”

“We’re moving into your flat though, right?”

Zayn frowns. 

“I liked your shower though.”

“You showered in it like once, you twat,” Niall giggles.

“Yeah,” Zayn agrees. “I like it when you’re over.”

Niall hums. 

“We’ll talk more about it after the holidays.”

Zayn kisses him and then proceeds to tell Niall that he’s over trying to re-learn how to skate.

The girls are fast asleep when Liam and Sophia hand them back over, and Niall can’t stop grinning the whole drive back to Zayn’s because he knows how ecstatic the they’ll be when they wake up.

 

**& &**

 

Niall and Gabby are back in Mullingar for Christmas when she finally slips up and calls Zayn Daddy.

The scruff on Zayn’s jaw is the first thing he and Gabby see when he finally gets the FaceTime connection to work, and when Zayn pulls back, revealing Perrie and Aliyah too, Gabby starts waving enthusiastically and chirps an excited “hi Daddy!”

And well, maybe it’s not so much a slip up.

Zayn looks about as shocked as Niall felt the first time Aliyah called him Da in the car before a huge smile blooms across his face.

“Hi Princess.”

“Happy Christmas, everyone,” Niall grins. “Perrie, how’s everything?”

“Any day now,” she says, gesturing to her enormous belly. “Henri still has three weeks but I don’t think he’s gonna wait that long to be honest.”

Niall notices Zayn cringe off to the side at the mention of the baby’s name and he can’t help but laugh.

They end up FaceTiming again after Perrie’s left and the girls are put to bed with the threats of Santa not coming if they stay up.

This time, with Zayn’s sleepy eyes fixed in a fond gaze upon Niall through the screen, he figures now is a good a time as any to say something.

“Y’know I love you, right Zayn?”

Too much eggnog spreads the smile slowly across Zayn’s face, and it’s all scrunched nose and crinkled eyes and tongue against his teeth as he says “I love you too, babe.”

And for the first time, there’s a reason why Niall can’t wait to get back to London.

 

**& &**

 

Perrie goes into labor in the early hours of the morning January fourteenth. 

Niall’s wondering if he can get another round out of Zayn before they call it a night when Zayn’s phone buzzes on his nightstand. Zayn’s so out of it, dozing off into the crook of Niall’s neck, too tired out to care about the vibrating on the table. It’s Niall who finally takes the call.

“Niall?”

He sits up, the panic in her voice immediately chilling his stomach.

“Perrie? Everything-“

“I’m at the hospital, I need to talk to Zayn.”

Unintentionally, he smacks Zayn harder than he should, earning a genuinely pissed off growl until he shoves the phone under his ear and Perrie starts crying.

Zayn’s up and out of bed before Niall, tumbling and tripping everywhere to find any article of clothing to make him half decent as he fires off questions into his phone.

“When? Okay, it’s okay. Pez, I’ll be there. How far along are you? What? I’m gonna be there as soon as I can.”

Niall thinks he’s pretty sure he’s stumbled his way into Zayn’s boxers, and that’s definitely Niall’s shirt Zayn’s got on backwards. And inside out.

“I need a ride,” Zayn panics. “Jesus Christ she’s been in labor since the afternoon.”

“I’ve got you, mate.”

“I knew Perrie wasn’t well and she just- and the girls-“

“Are gonna have to come with. We can’t wake anyone up like this.”

After a brief pause of nibbling on his lip, Zayn seems to agree and they gather two sleepy girls up into their arms as quickly and carefully as possible. Once Niall’s got Aliyah buckled into the back beside Gabby, he climbs into the driver’s seat, giving Zayn’s hand a quick, reassuring squeeze before pulling out of the underground parking.

Perrie calls again halfway to the hospital, and after Zayn hangs up, he’s paler than before.

“They’re saying it won’t be long now,” he says.

Niall wishes he could push down on the pedal harder, but there’s black ice on the road and his hands are starting to slip on the wheel.

It’s a good thing they pull up to the hospital a half hour later, Zayn’s legs have been going smile a minute and he’s slammed the dashboard twice when they had to stop at red lights. Zayn’s gone in a flat second, leaving Niall to haul the girls out, one onto each hip, and carry both of them inside.

“Wait right here, yeah?” Zayn says just outside the delivery room.

Niall nods and lets Zayn go inside, knowing this is something he has no part in. So he sits outside with the girls, who’ve managed to fall back asleep curled up as best they can on his lap.

It hits him then that really, that if he had a chance to be anywhere but here at the moment, he wouldn’t take it. Even though something in the back of his mind tells him he’s always known.

Fifteen minutes turn into a half hour, into an hour, into two. Niall had fallen asleep somewhere around forty five minutes, determined to before Perrie’s screaming got any worse.

He wakes up to soft kisses on the side of his temple.

“Niall, hey.”

“’S tha’ it?” His tongue rolls around his dry mouth, tasting rotten from hanging wide open.

Zayn’s there, hovering over him with a proud smile and tears in his eyes. He nods. The girls are gone.

“He’s here.”

Niall gathers him in his arms and plants earnest kisses along his forehead as Zayn kneels and slumps down into him, emotionally and physically exhausted.

“He’s so perfect, babe,” Zayn keeps muttering. “Just like Aliyah. Looks just like his mum.”

They spend a few moments like that, folded into one another before Niall decides it’s time for Zayn to go back and see his son again. Zayn gives him one last grateful kiss on the mouth before wrinkling his nose.

“He’s waiting to see you and you smell like shit.”

“Feck off,” Niall shoves him playfully.

The girls are already crowded around Perrie on the bed, oohing and aahing at the little bundle wrapped up in her arms. She looks tired, a little worse for wear, but she’s absolutely glowing.

“Niall, hey,” she smiles gently. “Want to see our new son?”

It’s only a joke. Maybe half a joke. Niall doesn’t really know at this point actually, he’s gotten so attached to Aliyah. And he knows Perrie probably sees something between him and Zayn that they haven’t yet with the way she looks at them. All he knows is that yeah, he definitely wants to meet his new son.

“Say hello to Henri.” She hands the bundle over and it’s just like his paternal instincts kick in all over again like they did with Gabby as he holds him.

Zayn was right, Niall agrees as he looks down at the baby’s tiny face and coos. It’s hard to tell at this stage but he’s definitely got her eyes, her nose, her mouth. He’s perfect.

 

**& &**

**Epilogue.**

The sounds of tinny, metallic snuffling over the baby monitor gently draw Niall out of a light sleep and tug at his chest. He groans softly, unable to believe his instincts from Gabriella’s infant months have sharpened that drastically. He doesn’t want to move, especially away from the arm and warmth Zayn’s providing, but the baby’s sniffling will escalate to wailing in about thirty seconds if Niall’s not up and cradling him, and Zayn could really use an extra three hours of sleep.

The snuffles and whimpering are becoming more urgent, so Niall slides quickly out of bed and pads towards the baby’s room.

“Hello,” he coos softly. “What’s it this time, little man?”

Henri blinks up at him with watery hazel eyes and one quick sniff confirms that a diaper change is definitely needed before he gets his bottle.

“You know,” Niall huffs, “for such a tiny thing you sure make one hell o’ a mess sometimes.”

Henri coos and giggles back up at Niall as Niall wipes him down and puts a fresh diaper on.

“Didn’t t’ink I’d be changing these things again so soon,” Niall mumbles, hoisting the bundle back into his arms. “Alright, let’s get you some food yeah?”

Henri gurgles in what seems to be agreement, and Niall is thankful he’s so good tonight. He’s usually pretty laid back for six months old, and considering Niall and Zayn get Henri on weekends (or longer, depending on how Perrie is feeling with the girls back at recording in the studio) they have it pretty easy. Though when he’s fussy, the whole apartment corridor knows about it. And that’s usually during feeding time.

Niall rocks Henri against his shoulder while the water heats up the formula, automatically yawning when he sees that the time on the stove’s clock reads almost four. It makes him chuckle, thinking back to when he used to be able to pull that kind of all-nighter no problem in uni.

Henri takes the bottle without a problem, gazing up at Niall while he suckles earnestly. Niall grins, remembering those rare moments when Gabby would take her bottle without a fuss and how relieved he’d be.

There’s a rerun of Bela Lugosi’s _Dracula_ on the Space channel, so Niall settles on that and turns the volume down low so that they can lapse into their routine.

Niall’s trying to get Henri to burp when Zayn stumbles into the living room, tired, worn out, and cuddly.

“Could’ve done tha’.” he mumbles, rubbing the sleep from his eye.

“Sorry, didn’t want Henri to wake you,” Niall says, grinning victoriously when he hears a little burp from his shoulder.

“He didn’t,” Zayn smiles. “You did. Thanks for taking diaper duty, yeah?”

“Well, it wasn’t really a pleasure to, so.” Niall grins, avoiding Zayn when he goes to pinch his hip.

“I’ll get the next feeding,” Zayn says as Niall’s just about to drop off again.

“Y’don’t have to,” he mumbles, holding Henri closer as he doses off on his chest.

When Niall wakes up again, it’s to Henri crying and clutching at his shirt as Zayn lifts him off his chest, rubbing soothing circles along the baby’s back as he asks the girls what they want for breakfast. They bounce around him to get a better view of their baby brother while exclaiming “pancakes!”

And yeah, he thinks he could definitely get used to this, no sleep and all.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm over on tumblr if anyone wants to come say hi! [http://falling-idols.tumblr.com]


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